Appeal of Dissident Wang Dan Is Rejected

A Chinese court rejected the appeal of dissident Wang Dan and upheld an 11-year prison term for plotting to overthrow the government, family members said. They said the hearing lasted 10 minutes and no one was permitted to speak except the judge, who read from a prepared statement. “It was all prepared in advance. . . . It was very unfair,” said the dissident’s mother, Wang Lingyun. Separately, a Chinese businessman with close ties to Deng Xiaoping was sentenced to death on corruption charges--a sign that the country’s ailing senior leader no longer can protect his allies. Zhou Beifang, the former head of a Hong Kong-based subsidiary of China’s giant Capital Iron & Steel Works, was accused of accepting $1.2 million in bribes.