Ge Yongxi, a civil rights defense lawyer, was detained and released late Friday by Chinese authorities for posts on social media that “poked fun” at President Xi Jinping in relation to the Panama Papers. Ge posted an image of the president on WeChat, a messaging service, along with Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin in a body of water with the words, “The Panama River,” “It is really deep,” “So easy to get drowned,” and “Don’t be scared, I have a brother-in-law.” The president’s brother-in-law, Deng Jiagui, was named—along with a handful of elite Chinese citizens—in the data leak from a Panamanian law firm that exposed offshore accounts held by prominent politicians and others across the globe. Information about the Panama Papers has been censored [advocacy website] across China with websites in that country “forbidden” [Daily Signal report] from publishing material about the subject. Ge was also detained [BBC report] 10 months ago for defending another lawyer and questioned by authorities for being involved in a lawyers’ rights movement.

Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiangon announced Wednesday that his license to practice law was revoked [JURIST report] by the judicial bureau. Chinese lawyer and professor Chen Taihe fled China [JURIST report] in March and arrived in San Leandro, California, after he was detained last July as part of a crackdown on rights lawyers. The crackdown culminated in at least 242 people detained or questioned throughout the country. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein expressed concern [JURIST report] in February over China’s recent crackdown on lawyers and activists. In January Chinese authorities arrested [JURIST report] high profile human rights lawyer Wang Yu and her husband on charges of political subversion.