403 words
13 November 2003
Agence France Presse
English
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2003 All reproduction and presentation rights reserved.

China has sentenced a laid-off worker to three years in prison after he called for the release of a young Internet dissident, a court official said Thursday.

Luo Changfu, 39, was first convicted in July and lost his appeal last month.

He was subsequently sentenced in southwest China's Chongqing municipality, an official at the Chongqing Number One Intermediate People's Court told AFP.

"He has been sentenced to three years on a charge of inciting subversion of state power. It's a relatively light sentence," said the official, who declined to give his name.

He said Luo had issued an essay on a website and put up posters in public places.

The Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said Luo had been calling for the release of Liu Di, a 23-year-old Beijing student held for a year after posting essays on the Internet about democracy and reforms.

Luo posted several essays on overseas websites last November urging the "immediate and unconditional" release of Liu and protesting the government's suppression of Internet expression, the Center said.

He was arrested in March.

In recent months, a series of Internet activists have been sentenced, including Cai Lujun, a businessman in northern Shijiazhuang city who was jailed for subversion after writing an essay discussing problems faced by farmers.

Partly because of her youth and innocence, Liu has become China's most celebrated jailed Internet dissident, with her arrest stirring vocal opposition in Internet chatrooms.

Many longtime dissidents and others have demanded her release.

Besides Luo, two other people have been detained for urging her freedom.

Her case has highlighted the fact that anyone can become a victim in China's crackdown on online activism.

Liu herself had been vocal in seeking the release of jailed cyber-dissidents, including Huang Qi, a campaigner who sought to overturn the official "counter-revolutionary verdict" on the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.

Due to insufficient evidence, prosecutors last month returned Liu's case to police for further investigation.

Frank Lu, director of the Hong Kong rights group, said he expects Liu's fate will be decided before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits the United States next month.

"Because she's a college student and only 23 years old, sentencing her will lead to strong opposition at home and overseas," Lu said.