A year after China's government arrested dozens of public-interest lawyers and activists in a coordinated police sweep loudly criticized by Western governments, the announced release of one of them is proving more of a gift to state propaganda than to her supporters.

On Thursday, police in the city of Tianjin, where many of those detained are being held, unexpectedly announced the youngest of the activists, 24-year-old Zhao Wei, had been released on China’s equivalent of bail.

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