Beijing, April 3
A Buddhist Chinese dissident outspoken on Tibet and other sensitive topics was jailed for three-and-a-half years today, a conviction likely to become a focus of rights campaigns ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Hu Jia, 34, was found guilty of ‘’inciting subversion of state power’’ for criticising the ruling Communist Party, a verdict at which the United States expressed dismay.

‘’In this Olympic year, we urge China to seize the opportunity to put its best face forward and take steps to improve its record on human rights and religious freedom,’’ the US Embassy said in a statement.

The official Xinhua news agency said Hu had made a ‘’confession of crime and acceptance of punishment’’, leading the court to issue a relatively light sentence. Hu’s two lawyers said he had acknowledged ‘’excesses’’.

‘’In the end, I think that he came to accept that some of his statements were contrary to the law as it stands,’’ said defence lawyer Li Jinsong.

Hu has 10 days starting tomorrow to decide whether to appeal, but Li said he was unlikely to do so.

The ‘’inciting subversion’’ charge can attract a jail term of five years or longer, and before the hearing lawyer Li Fangping said a long sentence was likely. After the hearing he said he was unaware of any deal in return for the sentence.

China’s Foreign Ministry defended the verdict and said critics were interfering in the country’s internal affairs.

‘’We will not stop implementing the rule of law ahead of holding the Olympics,’’ spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters.

Another Chinese dissident, Yang Chunlin, who called for human rights to take precedence over the Olympic Games, was sentenced to five years in jail in late March for the same crime.

Foreign reporters and diplomats were excluded from Hu’s hearing but Xinhua gave details of the offences.

The court heard that from August 2006 to October 2007, Hu published articles on overseas-run Web sites, made comments in interviews with foreign media and “repeatedly instigated other people to subvert the state’s political power and socialist system’’, Xinhua said.

In two Web site articles, one on law enforcement ahead of last year’s Communist Party Congress and one entitled ‘’One Country Doesn’t Need Two Systems’’, Hu spread “malicious rumours and committed libel’’, Xinhua quoted the verdict as saying.

Dozens of well-wishers gathered outside the court to express support for Hu and rowdily air their own grievances.

“Hu Jia is a hero to us because he stood up to speak out, so we should also speak out,’’ said one of them, Li Hai.

Hu was detained by police in late December after spending more than 200 days under house arrest in a Beijing apartment complex.

Hu’s wife, Zeng Jinyan, who has also often criticised the Chinese government, and their infant daughter remain under house arrest and their telephone is cut off. Zeng attended the hearing, emerging with her baby from the courthouse visibly upset before being whisked away in a police vehicle. — Reuters

Top leadership of the ruling four-party Pakistan Democratic Alliance (PDA) will hold another meeting soon to follow up Wednesday’s briefing by the army chief on national security to formulate a comprehensive policy on Pakistan’s role in the war on terrorism.

The briefing was described by participants and analysts as a landmark event representing a paradigm shift in power equation that has brought the elected political leadership at the centre stage of decision-making on national issues. The authority of the Prime Minister that was usurped by President Musharraf has been restored as the constitutional head of the government to which all arms of the government, including the army, will submit for guidance.

Army chief Gen Kayani was very explicit in reaffirming the principle that his institution would perform its constitutional role in supporting the democratic government and accept its authority to formulate policies and take decisions of vital national interest, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of JUI and a key participant, told this correspondent.

Fazl said the briefing had taken place at the initiative of the army chief, who responded to questions and suggestions from the political leadership with an open mind. He made it clear that while his institution would place all aspects of the military operations in tribal areas, Swat and elsewhere, it would seek guidance and direction of the political leadership to execute any policy. “This is the first time that the army has itself realised that policy decisions will be taken by the elected leadership and not in the GHQ,” Fazl observed.

He said there was consensus in the meeting that political solution through negotiations would get pre-eminence over the use of force in the tribal areas. The PDA leadership would review the facts presented by the army chief and may have another session with him to give a final shape to the country’s stance on operations in tribal areas. This would then be debated threadbare in the parliament. 

London, April 3
An Indian millionaire’s 21-year-old son, who was involved in an accident that left a child paralysed, has become the first person in Britain to be convicted of a motoring offence using evidence from a “black box” recorder.

The Birmingham Crown Court heard that the head-on collision caused by Antonio Boparan Singh left one-year-old Cerys Edwards’ brain damaged, paralysed and he was unable to breathe without a ventilator.

Five others were seriously injured in the accident that took place two years ago.

Judge Frank Chapman told Boparan yesterday: “You should expect a custodial sentence at the top end of the two-year scale.” Technical information from the “black box” recorder device fitted in the Range Rover Sport’s air bag was downloaded and used to prosecute Boparan, son of Ranjit and Baljinder, who own Boparan Holdings, a chicken supplier. The millionaire couple featured in last year’s The Sunday Times rich list with an estimated fortune of £130 mn.

The recorder device notes the car’s performance on a 10-second loop and is predominantly used by engineers to diagnose problems. In the event of a crash it freezes and stores the information at the point of impact, giving the car’s speed, engine speed, the angle of the brake and accelerator pedals and what gear it was in. — PTI