China jails 4, tortures 1 for e-subversion

Thu, 29 May 2003 23:09:00 -0400
/society

Well, the Chinese government doesn’t mess around when dealing with those evil pro-democracy subversives.

The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court sentenced geologist Jin Haike, 27, and Xu Wei, a 28-year-old journalist for Beijing’s Consumer Daily, to 10 years each in prison. Yang Zili, a 31-year-old computer engineer, and Zhang Honghai, a 29-year-old freelance writer, were each given eight years.

One of the men sentenced on Wednesday, Xu Wei, told the court he had been brutally beaten and tortured with electric shocks to his genitals, according to campaign group Human Rights in China. The former journalist had to be carried out of the court after he struck his head on the judge’s desk and was knocked unconscious, the group said.