China Slams Jail Door On Olympic Dissent
From Toronto Star:
In the darkest of ironies, as the Olympic torch was lit in Athens yesterday, a court in China sentenced a man to five years in prison after he dared to say the principle of human rights is more important than the Olympic Games.
Unemployed former factory worker, Yang Chunlin, 54, gathered more than 10,000 signatures on a petition last year, appealing against illegal seizures of land from poor farmers by powerful local officials in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang.
The petition letter began: “We want human rights, not the Olympics.”
Read also China Rights Activist Sentenced to Jail from AP.
Origin: Bill Schiller, Toronto Star
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[...] of what is happening in China, or he is lying. Hu Jia’s verdict followed shortly a jail sentence of five years handed down on Yang Chunlin, who was detained after he had collected more than 10,000 signatures for a petition titled: [...]