Beijing: Zhang Lin, the Chinese dissident writer, was sentenced to five years in jail for subversion over essays he posted on the internet.

Fang Caofang, his wife, said she believed that the authorities were taking revenge on her husband for posting a series of essays touching on protests by unemployed workers as well as jailed officials who colluded with human traffickers.

She said that a court in eastern China had also ruled that her husband’s political rights would be stripped for four years after his release.

“My heart feels heavy. I’m very pained and angry at their detestable action,” Mrs Fang said. She added that her husband would appeal against the sentence, last Thursday by the Intermediate People’s Court of Bengbu, in the eastern province of Anhui. “My younger daughter is only 2. I can only tell her that Daddy has gone to work, so we can afford to buy her food,” she said.

Zhang had previously spent eight years in prison and labour camps for taking part in pro-democracy activities since 1989. More than 60 cyber-dissidents are in jail for posting their views on the internet, human rights groups say.

The indictment presented at Zhang’s trial, held behind closed doors on June 21, quoted one of his essays, in which he used the words of a punk song.

Mo Shaoping, his lawyer, said that the article cited as evidence of subversive writing included the lyrics: “The Yellow River should run dry, this society should collapse, this system should be destroyed, this race should become extinct, this country should perish.”

He argued that Zhang did not write the song and was merely quoting it.

Zhang was detained at Bengbu train station on January 29 as he tried to attend the funeral of Zhao Ziyang, the late Chinese leader who was ousted for opposing the use of violence in quelling the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Zhang is a core member of a committee set up to honour the memory of Mr Zhao. (AFP)

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