Beijing police announced Thursday that they have arrested and detained veteran journalist  Gao Yu for leaking "state secrets" to foreign contacts.

The 70-year-old Beijing resident was detained on April 24 and evidence was seized from her residence for further investigation.

The police said they found substantial evidence that Gao, 70, had obtained a highly confidential document which she sent to an overseas website that published it in June last year.

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Authorities did not specify what confidential document had landed in the hands of Gao, but rights activists say it was Document Number 9, a Communist Party Circular titled "Concerning the Situation in the Ideological Sphere", which called for a crackdown on political dissent.

Gao previously wrote about Document Number 9 on the Chinese website of Germany's Deutsche Welle broadcast company.

Gao Yu is a prominent Chinese journalist who has been previously accused of leaking information to contacts overseas. In 1993, she was sentenced to six years in prison for the same crime.

According to police statements, Gao Yu confessed to the most recent accusations and expressed deep remorse for what she did.

However, Gao has been missing since April 26, causing other journalists and human rights groups to call into question where and how she is being held.

The detention of the outspoken journalist is just one of several arrests made in recent weeks as the country approaches the 25th anniversary of the bloody crackdown on Tiananmen Square by Chinese troops.

On Tuesday, officials also detained the well-known rights lawyer, Pu Zhiqiang, who has represented several controversial figures in the past including artist Ai Weiwei and an activist of the "New Citizens' Movement", a group that urges Chinese leaders to disclose their assets.

Pu Zhiqiang was charged with "causing a disturbance" although further specifics regarding the charges have not yet been released.

Activists look at Gao's detention and the imprisonment of other critics as an attempt by the Chinese government to control and prevent protests on the politically sensitive June 4 holiday. 

TagsTiananmen Square, Gao Yu