Dissident Sentenced to 7 Years in Prison

A Chinese court has sentenced student leader-turned-dissident Guo Haifeng to seven years in prison for hooliganism, a Hong Kong-based human rights group said. He was jailed after police paraded him before a rally at a stadium in Henan province about two weeks ago, the Information Center of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said, quoting Guo’s girlfriend, Wang Yanping. The police had initially accused Guo, a former Beijing University student, of fraud, but the prosecutor declined to charge him on that count, the group said. His girlfriend was quoted as saying she had no idea why police had accused Guo of hooliganism.