BEIJING - A Chinese court has sentenced defence lawyer Xia Lin to 12 years in prison, his attorney said on Thursday, the latest blow in a broad crackdown on human rights defenders and activists. "The court sentenced Xia Lin to 12 years in prison for fraud," his lawyer, Dong Xikui, told AFP. While the government initially targeted political activists and human rights campaigners, it has increasingly turned its attention to the legal professionals who represent them. Xia's sentence was unusually tough, according to Maya Wang, an Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, and will "send a deep chill through the community of human rights lawyers who have been under a sustained crackdown under President Xi’s government in the past year". "The sentence is shocking, not only because of its length, but also because it was handed down to a rights lawyer who has tried to protect himself by deliberately taking a low-profile, technical approach to his work."

Source: Bangkok Post September 22, 2016 07:41 UTC