This story in yesterday’s New York Times shows how China continues to ramp up pressure on dissidents, activists, writers, and bloggers in advance of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Beijing public security agents released a Chinese human rights lawyer on Saturday after detaining him two days earlier without notice and forcing him to endure intensive questioning at an unknown location, the lawyer said.

The lawyer, Teng Biao, 34, said he was released after 41 hours in custody. Mr. Teng, reached by telephone, said four officers from the Beijing Public Security Bureau grabbed him on Thursday night at a parking lot outside his apartment and then drove him away.

Mr. Teng, who is also a part-time college professor, said he was not sure where he was taken. He said that he was not physically harmed but that officers had questioned him sternly and warned him about recent articles he had posted on the Internet.

Mr. Teng refused to discuss his detention further, saying the officers had cautioned him against speaking out.

Chinese police kidnapped a lawyer whose only crime was writing articles that were critical of the Chinese government. They question him for almost two days straight and intimidate him with threats against speaking out any more. Here’s a taste of Teng’s dissident writings that lead to his kidnapping by Chinese police:

In the essay by Mr. Teng and Mr. Hu [a dissident facing trial for thought crimes like the one below] last year, the two wrote bluntly about China’s current situation.

“Is China improving its human rights record?” they asked, according to a translation provided by Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group. “When you come to the Olympic Games in Beijing, you will see skyscrapers, spacious streets, modern stadiums and enthusiastic people. Please be aware that the Olympic Games will be held in a country where there are no elections, no freedom of religion, no independent courts, no independent trade unions; where demonstrations and strikes are prohibited.”

China promised to improve their human rights record and increase freedoms of speech as a condition of hosting the Olympic Games. Yet despite consistent, mounting evidence of widespread crackdown on dissidents, journalists, and bloggers, the IOC has refused to respond. This is truly shameful and a reminder that the People’s Republic of China is not a free country, but one of the most brutal, repressive, anti-democratic places in the world.