PRC internet activist gets 8 years in jail

[dArKeR]

A Chinese court yesterday sentenced a veteran pro-democracy activist to eight years in prison on subversion charges, including accusations that he posted anti-government articles on overseas Web sites, a human rights organization said.

He Depu, who was tried last month at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court, is one of five Internet activists accused of subversive activities for signing an open letter calling for political reform posted on the Internet ahead of the landmark Communist Party congress in November 2002.

The others - Jiang Lijun, Zhao Changqing, Ouyang Yi and Dai Xuezhong - have all reportedly been tried or sentenced on subversion charges.

He Depu was sentenced Thursday, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, which condemned the outcome.

Phone calls to the court and the Beijing prosecutor's office rang unanswered Thursday evening.

http://www.etaiwannews.com/China/2003/11/07/1068168086.htm

[James T. Kirk]

1. The government of China sucks.

The Chinese Communist Party's days are numbered. China will eventually have democracy. Thanks for the post. The more people that know about this stuff the better.

[brainshrub]

2. The Chinese govt is being proped up

by American corporations who use the cheap labor to make the plastic crap we buy at Wal Mart.

[David__77]

3. Untrue. China opposes US hegemony.

My opinion is very unpopular here, but I'm willing to defend China against false charges. Corporations actually think that Chinese labor is too expensive and that there are too many regulations as opposed to places like Indonesia. Bush would love to topple the PRC and install a pro-US dictatorship/"democracy" that would freely bleed the Chinese workers dry.

[snooper2]

4. I don't know if that is true...

This poor soul will be making the crap bought at Wal Mart from a prison labor camp.

[David__77]

5. "Prison labor camp?"

What about the prison labor camps in the US? The US extracts profits from its correctional system, and so does China among numerous countries. The US has a higher incarceration rate than China. It seems to me that people should beware repeating anti-communist bromides, and instead turn a more critical eye toward home.

[James T. Kirk]

6. Just because they oppose US hegemony...

...does not necessarily mean they are commendable. Imperial Japan, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, fascist Italy, the old British Empire and the German Democratic Republic have opposed US power, too, and they weren't so good either.

The current P.R.C. combines government owned capitalism with a single-party, unelected authoritarian state. The Chinese deserve better than that. I'm sure they'll come up with something within the next few decades.