Ai Weiwei: In prison 'nothing protects you'

Famous Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei talks about the difficult time he faced in prison.

He tells HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur how his life was completely cut off from the past and says he could not draw on any previous knowledge, wisdom or emotion or communicate in the same way he used to.

He says the uncertainty of how he would be treated made the experience frightening.

He was imprisoned for 81 days and fined $2m (£1.2m) after being accused of financial crimes in 2011.

HARDtalk is in Beijing as part of the BBC's Freedom Season.

Watch more clips at HARDtalk's website

You can see the full interview on BBC World News at 16:30 and 21:30 GMT on Monday 17 March and on the BBC News Channel on Tuesday 18 March at 00:30 and 04:30 GMT.