STOCKHOLM: Swedem on Tuesday called on Beijing to release dissident publisher Gui Minhai after the Swedish citizen was snatched for a second time in mainland China while being accompanied by Swedish diplomats.
"We expect our citizen to be released immediately and be given the opportunity to meet Swedish diplomatic and medical personnel," Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said in a statement.
One of five Hong Kong-based booksellers known for salacious titles about the lives of China's political elite, Gui first was kidnapped by Chinese heavies from Pattaya in 2015 and resurfaced in detention on the mainland.
- Earlier:: bookseller Gui Minhai again
Chinese authorities said they had released Gui in October, but it was unclear to what extent he was a free man.
His daughter Angela Gui told Radio Sweden that he had then been snatched by plain clothes police on Saturday while on a train to Beijing from the eastern city of Ningbo, where he was living, while accompanied by two Swedish diplomats.
Gui had been travelling to Beijing to see a Swedish doctor as he was showing symptoms of the neurological disease ALS -- also known as Lou Gehrig's disease -- Angela added.
Rights group Amnesty International described the incident as "absolutely appalling" and called for Gui to be released and allowed to seek medical treatment.
Since taking power in 2012 President Xi Jinping has come under increasing pressure on rights issues, following widespread arrests of lawyers and activists.