Another activist, Xu Zhiyong, published an article on social media this month urging Xi Jinping to step down.

The recent post from Xu, a civil-rights lawyer and public intellectual, called out the Chinese president for his "inability to handle major crises," according to the South China Morning Post.

Xu previously served four years in prison for his legal activism. He was arrested again on February 15 after being on run for two months following a police crackdown on a meeting of human-rights lawyers and activists that he attended in Xiamen.