Inciting subversion of state power

An activist who publicized human rights abuses across China has been convicted of subversion and jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Hu Jia, 34, was convicted of "inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system", his lawyer said. He has long campaigned for the environment, religious freedom and for the rights of people with HIV and Aids. His sentence comes a day after a rights group accused China of a campaign to silence dissent ahead of the Olympics.

The US was "dismayed" by the verdict, a spokeswoman for the US embassy in Beijing said, while the European Union called for Mr. Hu's immediate release. "We said very clearly before the trial that he should not have been detained in the first place and that he should be released and this remains our position."

And in china the games …began!