Hu Jia, who campaigns for orphaned AIDS victims in rural Henan province, said he was held for 48 hours for attempting to place flowers at a war memorial in Tiananmen during a traditional Chinese festival to honour the dead.

"I wanted to go on Sunday to the monument to place the flowers, at the time when they raise the flag, in memory of the victims of June 4, 1989," Hu told AFP shortly after being released on Monday.

The memorial, on the huge square overlooked by a portrait of communist icon Mao Zedong, officially remembers the dead of the Chinese revolution.

"Police officers stopped me when I left my home Saturday at about 10am. They took me to a basement. I refused to eat," he said.

Hu's release came after the Beijing Aizhi Public Health Institute, a Chinese anti-AIDS organisation, expressed concerns about his disappearance.

Last month, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao reaffirmed government policy that the 1989 crackdown in which hundreds, possibly thousands, died, was justified for "the future of the party and the country".

TERRA.WIRE