Detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei sees family for first time

The BBC reports that Ai Weiwei's sister said the artist had been allowed to meet his wife and had told her he is ok.

Ai Weiwei's wife Lu Qing was also taken by Chinese police to meet her husband on Sunday afternoon.

The artist's sister said Lu Qing was summoned to a police station and taken to another location where she was allowed a brief meeting with her husband.

Lu does not know where that location was, but thinks it was only used for the meeting - she said she did not believe her husband was being held there.

She reported that Ai told her those holding him were taking good care of him, he was healthy and she should not worry.

However the meeting was very brief, she said, and there were many other people present, some of them taking notes, so she was afraid to talk much more with her husband.

The family were then warned by police not to discuss the visit with the media as they were told it could "be bad for Mr Ai's case".

His family had been demanding to know if he was safe and well as more than 43 days have passed since Ai was detained by police at Beijing's airport.

Ai is said to be under investigation for suspected "economic crimes", and he had not been allowed any contact with his lawyers or his family.

The artist is a vocal critic of the government, complaining about a lack of basic freedoms and often incorporating these political themes into his work.

Calls by artists and governments worldwide for information had not produced any response from China's authorities.

China's foreign ministry has insisted that Ai's case has "nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression".