Great Regulars: A court in the southwestern Chinese province

of Sichuan on Monday handed a 12-year jail term to dissident poet Li Bifeng for "contract fraud," his relatives and lawyer said.

Aside from the imprisonment, Li Bifeng, 48, was imposed a fine of a 30,000 yuan (U.S.$4,800) by the Shehong County People's Court in a trial that lasted just over one hour, his lawyer Ma Xiaopeng said.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Poet Jailed For 12 Years

~~~~~~~~~~~

The group cited the case of Henan petitioner Wang Yaodong, who died "after being beaten to death" in Beijing, as well as the cases of a number of prominent dissidents and activists who had been detained or forced into unofficial detention in hotels and guesthouses far from Beijing.

Beijing-based activist Xu Zhiyong, Guangdong literature professor Ai Xiaoming, writer Wang Lixiong, Tibetan poet Tsering Woeser, veteran journalist Gao Yu, Shanghai-based activist Feng Zhenghu, university lecturer Hu Shigen, and rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong, as well as Protestant believer Xu Yonghai had all been subjected to similar treatment, the group said.

from Luisetta Mudie: Radio Free Asia: Rights Group Slams Crackdown

~~~~~~~~~~~