China hands eight-year jail term to activist at trial barred to diplomats

China sentenced lawyer and prominent rights activist Guo Feixiong to a prison term of eight years on Thursday, with diplomats from several countries saying they were barred from the trial in the southern city of Guangzhou. 

The sentence follows terms of more than a decade in jail each handed to two prominent rights lawyers, Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong in April, amid China's clampdown on dissent since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. 

While rights groups say hundreds of lawyers and activists have been detained in recent years, China says it respects the rule of law and individual rights and rejects criticism of its human rights record. 

Guo, 58, has drawn international attention for campaigns against issues such as graft and censorship, and his accusations of mistreatment by Chinese authorities during more than a decade behind bars on previous charges. 

His latest detention, in 2022, came a year after he was stopped from leaving the country to visit his dying wife in the United States, sparking further outcry. 

After a three-hour trial Guo, whose real name is Yang Maodong, was found guilty of defaming China's political system and inciting subversion of state power, his brother said in a statement, adding that Guo would appeal against the judgment.

"Today, U.S. diplomats were blocked from attending the court proceedings of Guo Feixiong, a lawyer who is facing trial in Guangzhou for his peaceful advocacy," the U.S. Embassy in China said via its Twitter account on Thursday. 

"We continue to call for Mr. Guo's speedy release so he may be reunited with his family." 

Diplomats from Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Netherlands and Britain were also turned away and told by a court clerk that foreign visitors would need prior approval from higher authorities, four of the diplomats told Reuters, requesting anonymity. 

The Guangzhou Intermediate People's Court and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 

Guo, whose real name is Yang Maodong, is facing charges of "inciting subversion of state power." 

Details of the charges levelled at him are thin and Guo's lawyer declined to comment. 

China has clamped down on dissent since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 and rights groups say hundreds of lawyers and activists have been detained in recent years. China says it respects the rule of law and individual rights and rejects criticism of its human rights record. 

Two prominent rights lawyers, Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong, were in April both sentenced to more than a decade in jail. 

In early 2021, Guo was stopped by officials at Shanghai airport as he tried to visit his ailing wife in the United States. 

His public pleas to leave were rebuffed and his wife died around a year later of cancer. Two days after that, Guo was arrested by Guangzhou police and has been kept in detention since, according to rights groups. 

The U.S. State department said in an earlier statement that Guo had been subjected to "years of mistreatment, imprisonment, routine harassment and surveillance, and denied foreign travel for his peaceful advocacy on behalf of the Chinese people." 

(Reuters)