China rights lawyer jailed for 2 years, 8 months - Reuters

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BEIJING | Mon Apr 9, 2012 10:03pm EDT

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced a disabled lawyer renowned for defending people evicted from their homes to two years and eight months in prison on Tuesday for causing a disturbance and fraud, Beijing's latest use of a controversial law to stifle dissent.

The lawyer, Ni Yulan, and her husband, Dong Jiqin, were detained in April 2011 and later convicted of the charges. Rights activists contend the charges were trumped up in an effort to silence the couple.

Dong was given two years in prison, also for "causing a disturbance", a court official told reporters at the courthouse in a western suburb of Beijing.

Ni's imprisonment is the latest signal of the ruling Communist Party's determination to stifle China's civil rights movement, which is reeling from the jailing of several dissidents in recent months.

The party is especially wary of political challenges ahead of a leadership succession later this year.

Ni has been an outspoken advocate for Chinese residents forced from their homes to make way for development, often for what residents say is grossly inadequate compensation.

Prosecutors alleged that Ni, who is disabled and wheel chair-bound, and Dong beat employees at a hotel - or what Ni has previously called a "black jail" - where they were forced to stay after their home was demolished in 2008.

A "black jail" is an informal detention site, such as a hotel or government guesthouse, used to hold protesters and petitioners without resorting to legal procedures.

(Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Chris Buckley)

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Chinese rights lawyer jailed 2 years, 8 months

Beijing (Reuters)-a Chinese court sentenced a lawyer to defend the people with disabilities, which is known to remove their homes, for a period of two years and eight months in prison on Tuesday for causing interference, and fraud, the Beijing last disputed the right to suppress dissent.

Lawyer, Ni Yulan, and her husband was detained April 2011, Dong Jiqin and later convicted of charges. Rights activists claim were trumped when you try to silence a couple.

Dong was given two years in prison, including "cause disruption", the Court of Justice, the official told reporters in Beijing on the Western suburb of the district.

Ni's imprisonment to stifle the Communist China set-the civil rights movement, which is the position of the textile fabrics from many of the jailing in recent months, the latest version of the signal.

The party is particularly concerned by the fact that the political challenges of leadership succession later this year.

Ni has been outspoken of the Advocate General at the homes are forced to make way for the development, the residents often say the Chinese people is outrageous compensation.

Prosecutors argued that the Ni, who is disabled, and the wheel chair-bound, and Dong beat hotel-or what is called the "Ni" black jail "-workers, in which they were forced to stay at home was demolished after the end of the year 2008.

The "Black jail" is the unofficial detention site, such as a hotel or guesthouse, use Klimaflüchtlinge and performers subject to the legal procedures of petitions.

(Reports of the Sui-Lee viikk; Ben Blanchard; writing editing, Chris Buckley)

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Jailed China rights lawyer allowed visit by family

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BEIJING (AP) — Family members of jailed prominent lawyer Gao Zhisheng said Wednesday that Chinese authorities have allowed them to visit him in prison, confirming for the first time since he disappeared nearly two years ago that he is alive and in good health.

Gao's brother Gao Zhiyi told The Associated Press that he has seen his brother, but added it was "not convenient" to say more.

The dissident's wife, Geng He, said her father and Gao's brother saw him for half an hour on Saturday in an emotional reunion in a remote prison in Xinjiang. She expressed relief at proof her husband is alive and relatively well.

Geng, who now lives in California, says she was told Gao appeared paler than the last time his brother saw him two years ago but seemed otherwise the same.

"Anyway, this is the situation that I am in," Geng quoted Gao Zhisheng as telling his brother. "You should all take care of yourselves, help Geng He raise the children well."

Gao has been a galvanizing figure for the rights movement, advocating constitutional reform and arguing landmark cases to defend property rights and political and religious dissenters. Convicted in 2006 of subversion and sentenced to three years, he was released on probation before being taken away by security agents in 2009 in the first of his forced disappearances that set off an international outcry.

The whereabouts of Gao, who earlier said he had been kidnapped and tortured by Chinese authorities, had been unknown for 20 months until state media reported in December that he was being sent back to prison for three years for violating his probation.

During an interview with the AP in 2010 when he briefly resurfaced, Gao described being hooded and beaten by security and said he worried about being taken away by police again. He disappeared again a few weeks later.

In December, the government said it was moving Gao to prison, the first time it had acknowledged holding him. Yet, his condition was not known and speculation about his health spiked again after authorities refused to let his brother visit him in prison.

"The fact that he's alive and that his family has seen him is a huge step forward given the fears we've all had," said Jared Genser, president of the Washington-based advocacy group Freedom Now and an adviser to Geng He.

With Gao confirmed alive, Genser said the next step is to rally foreign governments and U.N. groups to persuade the Chinese government to release him and allow him to be reunited with this family. "Now is the time to put pressure on the Chinese government to adhere to the rule of law," Genser said in Beijing.

Geng said the news of the visit brought her relief. "I slept well for the first time that night," she said.

"But in the morning as soon as I got up, I was aware that the road ahead of me remains long. Gao Zhisheng's ordeal has not ended," she said. "I must keep calling for his release until the day he is free and we can be reunited."

Other prominent Chinese who are being held incommunicado include poet Liu Xia, who is the wife of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, and Chen Guangcheng, a self-taught lawyer who documented forced abortions and other abuses.

Liu Xia is believed to be effectively under house arrest without phone or Internet access and is prohibited from seeing all but a few family members. Chen was released from jail in 2010, but authorities have turned his eastern Chinese village into a no-go zone where activists, foreign diplomats and reporters have been turned back and threatened.

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Associated Press writer Charles Hutzler contributed to this report.

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Follow Gillian Wong on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gillianwong

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Lawyer asks Cuba to temporarily release jailed American - CNN

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An attorney says the final wish of Alan Gross' mother is to visit with her sonHe asks Cuban President Raul Castro for a "humanitarian gesture"Alan Gross was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 15 years in prisonHis family and Washington officials say he is innocent

Havana, Cuba (CNN) -- The lawyer representing jailed American Alan Gross has asked Cuba's president to release him for two weeks so Gross can visit his ailing mother.

"We are reaching out to you directly, with the knowledge that you have the power to grant such humanitarian requests, as you have done in the past, and with the hope that you will extend a humanitarian gesture not only towards Alan, but to his ailing mother," attorney Peter Kahn wrote in a letter to Cuban President Raul Castro.

In a statement Thursday, Kahn said that 89-year-old Evelyn Gross has a final wish: "to be able to see her son once more before her battle with cancer is lost."

Alan Gross was arrested in 2009 Cuba while working as a subcontractor on a U.S. Agency for International Development project aimed at spreading democracy.

Gross' family and attorneys argued that he had traveled to Cuba to help link the country's small Jewish community to the internet. Cuban authorities said Gross's work was tantamount to espionage.

He was convicted in 2011 and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Kahn's statement mentions the case of Rene Gonzalez, a Cuban released from United States prison last year after serving 13 years for spying on Cuban exile groups and U.S. military installations.

Gonzalez was released on probation, while four other Cubans convicted of spying remain in jail. Cuban officials laud the men as heroes and have suggested they might agree to swap Gross for them.

Rene Gonzalez is unable to leave the United States as part of the terms of his release, but recently asked a U.S. court to be able to return to Cuba to visit his brother who is ill with cancer.

"I fully appreciate Rene Gonzalez's need to visit a dying family member," Kahn said in the statement. "We need to remember that these are real people and real lives that are profoundly affected by these decisions."

The Cuban government has not responded publicly to Kahn's request.

Officials in Washington have repeatedly said that Gross is being unjustly imprisoned.

"We have tried everything we can to free Alan Gross, who is innocent, to let him get back to be with his family," Mike Hammer, acting assistant secretary of state, told reporters in Washington last week. "It is an unjust imprisonment and we hope that this issue is resolved as soon as possible. ... It is an issue that we work very hard on every day here."

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