Southern (Inner) Mongolian well-known dissident writer Mr. Erden-uul, known by the penname Unaga, author of the book "Forefront of Independence" ("Tusgaar Togtoniliin Umun Front" in Mongolian) was arrested on December 16, 2010 by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Public Security authorities in China. He is currently being held at the Hohhot No.1 Detention Center in the regional capital Hohhot City under an accusation of involvement in an "illegal publication".

Family members of Erden-uul were not informed of his arrest and detention and only after his brother Hasbaatar came to Hohhot to search for his missing brother and visited the Detention Center personally did he find Erden-uul's name among a list of recent detainees.

"I was not allowed to meet with him," Hasbaatar told the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center (SHMRIC) on a telephone interview, "I left some cash for him hoping that he can buy some food with it."

SMHRIC contacted the Hohhot No.1 Detention Center by phone to determine directly the condition of Mr. Erden-uul but was told "It is a state secret. No information about any detainee is allowed to be given out to others," a female officer who declined to identify herself told SMHIRC and hung up the phone.

Erden-uul is a native of Uushin Banner, Ordos Municipality (E Er Duo Si Shi Wu Shen Qi in Chinese) and has authored dozens of books and hundreds of poems under many different pennames including Chavidar, Uulen, Haliun, and Shivree.

In February 1992, along with two other Mongolian men, Erden-uul was arrested by the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in an attempt to cross the border to Mongolia. The three were sentenced to 8 months in labor camp. After his release Erden-uul started writing poems, essays, and privately published books dedicated to the freedom of the Mongolian people in China.

Erden-uul was previously arrested and detained several times following the publication of another book entitled "Prisoners Outside Prison" ("Shorong'iin Gadnah Horigdol" in Mongolian) in 1999. In this book, he included a Mongolian version of "A European Parliament Resolution on Inner Mongolia/1997" that condemned China's human rights violations in Southern Mongolia, in particular the arrest of Mr. Hada and the crackdown of the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance (SMDA). The full article can be found at: http://smhric.org/Hada/Hada_7.htm .

In 2003, Erden-uul published his 4th Essay Collection entitled "Poet's Eyes Always Wide Open" through the Tian Ma Publishing House in Hong Kong.

In December 2010, he privately published his new book "Forefront of Independence" that, according to close friends, discusses matters related to the independence of Southern Mongolia. Before his arrest on December 16, 2010, Erden-uul invited his close friends to attend his book publishing ceremony planned to take place on December 17, 2010.

In addition to Erden-uul, during the past two months alone, at least seven other Mongolian dissidents and activists have either been placed under house arrest or been forcibly disappeared by the Chinese authorities. They are the prominent political prisoner Hada, his wife Xinna and son Uiles, dissident write Ms. Huuchinhuu, activist Mr. Arslan and two member of a Mongolian music band.