Ai Weiwei talks on his mobile phone as he walks in his house's courtyard in Beijing Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Chinese police on Wednesday barred Ai from attending the first hearing of a lawsuit brought by his company against Beijing tax authorities and blocked reporters from filming at the courthouse, part of an intimidation campaign aimed at silencing the prominent artist and outspoken government critic. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Ai Weiwei talks on his mobile phone as he walks in his house's courtyard in Beijing Wednesday, June 20, 2012. Chinese police on Wednesday barred Ai from attending the first hearing of a lawsuit brought by his company against Beijing tax authorities and blocked reporters from filming at the courthouse, part of an intimidation campaign aimed at silencing the prominent artist and outspoken government critic. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei surfs the Internet near a notice issued by the city's Chaoyang District police headquarters stating he will soon be freed from travel restrictions and other demands imposed following his three-month detention last year, at his house in Beijing, China Thursday, June 21, 2012. The notice issued Thursday said the year-old restrictions will expire Friday. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
BEIJING (AP) ? Dissident artist Ai Weiwei learned Thursday that the Chinese government will no longer confine him to Beijing, but he said police warned him not to try leaving the country.
A notice from Beijing's Chaoyang District police headquarters said domestic travel restrictions against Ai will expire Friday, exactly a year after his release following nearly three months of detention. The internationally renowned artist is the highest-profile target in a government crackdown intended to stop Chinese from imitating democratic uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.
Ai told The Associated Press that the police ? citing ongoing investigations ? would return the passport only on the condition that he not travel abroad.
"I feel this is still an illegal practice," Ai said.
Beijing police had asked him not to leave the capital over the past year but did not make the same request Thursday, Ai said.
He also said police warned him not to talk to foreign media. He swiftly defied that order, just as he did with earlier restrictions on giving interviews or posting comments online.
Ai, known for his mocking, satirical art, was detained April 3, 2011, at Beijing's airport. Following his release on June 22 of that year, he was stripped of his passport and required to be constantly available for questioning.
Ai is among dozens of rights activists, lawyers and others who have been detained, put under house arrest or disappeared in the past year and a half. Several of those who have been released have kept almost totally silent ever since.
Following Ai's release last year, his design company was presented with a 15 million yuan ($2.4 million) bill for back taxes and fines that he has contested. A hearing on Ai's countersuit against the tax office was held Wednesday, though Ai was barred from attending.
The outcome of the countersuit was unclear, but Ai was not optimistic.
"The trial ended in a bureaucratic way," he said. "There was no decision on the verdict of the case, but I can expect the outcome to be far from ideal."
Associated Press
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