Rights Group Slams Legal System as China Jails Blind Activist

Tighter regulations, procedural obstacles, increasing harassment of lawyers, and the recent conviction of blind activist lawyer Chen Guangcheng and the harassment of his legal team all demonstrate an increasingly severe crackdown on the legal profession in China, according to a new report from the U.S.-based rights group Human Rights in China. While Chen’s sentence was reported by the official Xinhua news agency, his wife told RFA’s Mandarin service she found out about the sentence only after reporters contacted her for comment. "This sentence has come as a surprise," Yuan Weijing said. "From a legal point of view, even a day spent in jail would be an injustice for Chen Guangcheng. This is quite simply an attack on him." Read the entire article.

Hat tip: Radio Free Asia.

Category: China and Human Rights.