LEAD: China jails dissident for seven years over "subversive" poem

By Bill Smith Feb 10, 2012, 13:11 GMT

Beijing - China on Friday sentenced veteran dissident Zhu Yufu to seven years in prison after convicting him on subversion charges linked to a poem he published online, rights groups said.

His wife and daughter attended Zhu's sentencing at a court in the eastern city of Hangzhou, China Human Rights Defenders said.

At his trial last month, Zhu was accused of 'inciting subversion of state power' through his poem It's Time, which was published online during calls early last year for protests to promote democratic reform.

London-based Amnesty International said Zhu's sentence was 'further evidence of the Chinese government's continuing repression of anyone it perceives as directly or indirectly criticizing it policies.'

'We believe this is a sign that the Chinese leadership is afraid,' said Sarah Schafer, Amnesty's China researcher.

'The Chinese government has seen the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa,' Schafer said. 'And now the leaders at the very top have clearly given out orders that any hint of dissent must be crushed.'

Much of the prosecution's evidence focussed on Zhu's poem, Li Dunyong, one of Zhu's lawyers, said after the trial on January 31.

'If it wasn't for this poem, perhaps they wouldn't have arrested him,' Li told dpa.

Other evidence included Zhu's membership in the illegal China Democratic Party, interviews he gave on political subjects and his calls for donations to support political prisoners.

Li said Zhu 'spoke a lot' against the accusations during his trial and had pleaded not guilty.

Zhu, 58, was arrested in March. He took part in China's 1979 Democracy Wall movement and served nine years for two previous prison sentences.

His short poem encouraged people to 'use our feet to go to the square and make a choice.'

It ended with the lines: 'China belongs to everyone. The choice is our own. It's time to choose our future China.'

Zhu's imprisonment followed heavy prison sentences against at least three other well-known dissidents in the past three months.

China Human Rights Defenders said the harsh sentences were 'further darkening the human rights landscape in China.'

In a separate statement Renee Xia, the group's international director, urged leaders in the United States to press China to explain its 'escalating crackdown on political and religious dissent' when Vice President Xi Jinping visits Washington next week.

Xia said the United States should also confront Xi over China's 'heartless position towards the suffering of the Syrian people' after it joined Russia in vetoing a UN resolution that would have extended sanctions against Syria.