The detained wife of leading Mongolian activist Hada met with her brother in north China for the first time in months, as authorities continue to harass her family, a rights group said Friday.

Xinna and her son Uiles were arrested in December in Hohhot city in Inner Mongolia, just as her husband Hada was due to complete a 15-year jail term, the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre (SMHRIC) reported.

But Hada was never released, and his wife and son were later charged respectively with "illegal business practices" and "drug possession," rights groups have said.

Both have denied the charges and maintained their innocence, according to the SMHRIC.

The group said Xinna's brother visited her Tuesday at a detention centre in Hohhot, where she is held separately from her son and husband -- the first time in over four months that a relative has been allowed to meet with a Hada family member.

The detention centre refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

One of China's longest-jailed prisoners of conscience, Hada was jailed on separatism and espionage charges after writing essays on greater Mongol autonomy and organising peaceful demonstrations.

Many of China's six million ethnic Mongols, who have cultural and ethnic ties with Mongolia, complain of political and cultural repression.

That resentment flared up in May and June, when the region was hit by widespread protests over resource exploitation and Chinese rule.

The arrests and continued detention of Hada's family appear to reflect government concerns of further ethnic unrest in Inner Mongolia.

"Despite the lack of evidence, the Public Security Bureau told us that Xinna needs to be held in detention for some time," Xinna's mother Hanshuulan told the SMHIRC over the phone.

"We are not allowed to visit Hada and Uiles. But we are still demanding a meeting with both of them."

Hanshuulan said public security personnel had been visiting her and her daughter Naraa regularly.

She added Naraa had been asked to write letters to Hada stating that all of his relatives were no longer supporting him and trying to stay away from him, but she refused.

She has also been threatened that she will be thrown in jail if she continues to give information about the family to foreign journalists and human rights groups.

earlier related report
China Red Cross vows to restore credibility
Beijing (AFP) July 8, 2011 - China's Red Cross has vowed to make public all donations it receives after allegations of corruption sparked a storm of controversy, amid reports even tennis star Li Na is shunning the charity.

"We will humbly listen to different opinions, strengthen our sense of responsibility... and strive to enhance the Red Cross Society's credibility in society," the organisation said in a statement.

It also vowed to make public the donations it received and its purchasing activities, according to the statement issued late Thursday.

The scandal erupted last month when a young woman was found flaunting her wealth online. She said she was the general manager of a firm called "Red Cross Commerce", which web users took to mean she had received embezzled funds.

"Guo Meimei Baby", as she called herself, had posted photos of her opulent lifestyle on her Twitter-like account on Sina Weibo -- posing in front of a Maserati or sipping a drink in business class on a plane.

The Red Cross and Guo soon denied any links to the other party, and she insisted she had made up her job title.

China's state auditor then waded into the controversy, saying it had found five discrepancies in its review of the Red Cross' 2010 budget, which the charity instantly said was not linked to corrupt practices.

The flap has fuelled already deep-seated public suspicion of state-run charities such as the Red Cross Society of China, amid a general lack of transparency and openness in the sector.

Even Li, who won the French Open last month and has become one of the nation's sports darlings, has reportedly refused to donate money through the Red Cross.

Li, who pocketed $1.65 million in prize money for winning at Roland Garros, will donate 500,000 yuan ($77,000) to a home for the elderly, disabled people and orphans in her hometown of Wuhan, the official People's Daily said.

But the report said she had refused to donate that money through the Red Cross, after hearing about the Guo Meimei controversy.

"I really hoped I would be able to help them, so in the end I decided to go handle everything myself," she was quoted as saying in the report.

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