China Sentences Another Prominent Activist to Prison
For the third time in less than a month, a Chinese court has sentenced a prominent rights activist to a lengthy prison term on charges involving subversion of state power, a telling indicator of the government’s fixation on security as China enters a year of leadership changes.
The Wuhan Intermediate People’s Court ordered Li Tie, 52, a writer and human rights campaigner, to 10 years in prison for subversion of state power, a more serious charge than the original accusation of inciting to subvert. Wuhan is the capital of Hubei Province in central China.
The sentence, handed down on Wednesday but made public on Thursday, came more than 16 months after Mr. Li was detained in September 2010, and 9 months after his trial in April.
The evidence included membership in an alternative political group, the China Social Democracy Party, and a succession of essays that took issue with the government, led by an online criticism titled “Human Beings’ Heaven Is Human Dignity.”
full: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/20/world/asia/li-tie-prominent-chinese-activist-sentenced-to-jail.html