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China has rejected calls from several foreign governments for it to free five women’s rights activists who have spent nearly three weeks in detention.

BBC has more:
Foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying said that nobody had the right to ask China to release the group.

The activists were planning public campaigns against s*xual harassment.

They were arrested in early March in the run-up to China’s top political meetings, which coincided with International Women’s Day.

The BBC’s Celia Hatton in Beijing says grassroots groups in China have been reporting a marked risein the detention of political activists, as the rulingCommunist Party moves to suppress political opposition.

Ms Hua said in a daily briefing to reporters on Wednesday that Beijing “hoped relevant people would stop interfering in China’s judicial sovereignty”.

Her remarks came a day afterthe UK’s Foreign Office saidit was “deeply concerned” about the ongoing detention.