Web activist sent to jail for nine months

A CHINESE court yesterday sentenced an activist to nine months in jail in a prosecution said to illustrate the authoritarian government’s unease about social campaigners active on the internet.

Chaoyang District Court issued the sentence against Wang Lihong, 56, on the vaguely-worded charge of creating a disturbance, her son Qi Jianxiang said, after the 10-minute sentencing hearing outside Beijing.

He said the family would appeal because “we think it is not fair. She committed no crime”.

The charge stemmed from a protest Ms Wang took part in last year outside a southern China courthouse where three bloggers were on trial. Her supporters said she was being punished for her activism, in a case underlining Chinese leaders’ rising wariness about a public that is wired to the internet and angry at injustice.