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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China rights lawyer jailed for 2 years, 8 months

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
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)

View the original article here

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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