IP Democracy: Internet Writer Jailed for 10 Years in China

Despite hopes that the Chinese government may be softening its hard-line stance against free speech on the Internet, a Chinese teacher who posted a document entitled “The Road to Democracy” has been sentenced to ten years in jail for writing “subversive” essays.

Junior high teacher Ren Ziyuan was found guilty of “subversion of state power” for writing the essay and for planning to form a political group. The comforting news in all this: Chinese prosecutors presented no evidence from a U.S. Internet company at the trial.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on March 17, 2006 2:08 PM to IP Democracy