A bishop in China's underground Roman Catholic Church who has been imprisoned for the last 14 years has died at the age of 94.
Bishop Cosmas Shi Enxiang of Yixian had been held without charge since April 13, 2001, according to the UCA news website, which covers Catholic news in Asia.
His great-niece Shi Chunyan told UCA: "We were informed by Baoding city government officials on Friday morning but they did not say when he died exactly or the cause of his death.
"We are now waiting for the prelate, whether it be his body or ashes, to be returned to Shizhuang, our hometown, before we decide what to do next.
"My parents and the bishop's other siblings are particularly sad. They had been unsuccessfully trying to discover his whereabouts for many years. Now the answer to their questions is that he is dead."
Chinese Catholics have expressed sadness on social media since the news of Shi's death spread, with many saying that they felt proud to have another "martyr in the Church".
Bishop Shi spent around half his life in prison or in forced labour camps because of his faith. Born 1921, he was ordained a priest in 1947 and first arrested in 1954. Between 1957 and 1980 he spent long periods in hard labour, first at a camp and thing in coal mines.
He was arrested and imprisoned briefly again in 1981. He was secretly ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Yixian in 1982 and became the diocesan bishop in 1995. He was arrested again in 1989 and released in 1993 as a result of international pressure, being arrested for the final time on Good Friday, 2001.
Another bishop, Rt Rev James Su Zhimin of Baoding, remains in detention. He was arrested in October 1997.
In 2011 AsiaNews picked the two bishops as 'Illustrious Unknowns', saying: "The two deserve to be remembered alongside other famous dissidents, like Nobel Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and the great Bao Tong, because they have been fighting for the freedom of the individual and their faith for far longer. In a certain sense, they are the dissidents' prophets. They were the first to suffer persecution, the first to be arrested and convicted, the first to appeal to the international community and the first to be forgotten."
They and other bishops refused to join the state-controlled Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association and remained loyal to the Vatican, which has been criticised for failing to do more to support them.
