China jails former factory worker for online account of Tiananmen massacre
Beijing — On Friday, a prominent Chinese labour activist was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for "inciting subversion" through a written account of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, his lawyer told AFP. Liu Shaoming, a former factory worker, was detained in southern Guangdong province in May 2015 after describing his involvement in the pro-democracy movement on a US website. Liu’s lawyer, Wu Kuiming, told AFP the verdict was announced by the Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court. "His crime is ‘inciting subversion of state power’," Wu said. "The evidence is some online articles he wrote to recall the June 4 event." Wu said they will appeal the court decision. Several Chinese rights advocates have been jailed for trying to keep alive the memory of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement that was crushed by the military. Hundreds of civilians — more than 1,000 by some estimates — are believed to have died in the crackdown. Liu, who was featured earlier this year in the do...
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