China jails Mao critic and dissident for subversion

BEIJING, Oct 17 (Reuters) A Chinese court jailed a dissident for four years today for inciting subversion over anti-government essays he posted on the Internet, his lawyer said, the latest victim of a crackdown on dissent.

Guo Qizhen's writings denounced late Chairman Mao Zedong and called the government ''evil'' for its suppression of civil rights.

In one article, he called on the people to ''sound the passing bell for this evil regime''.

Cangzhou Intermediate People's Court in Hebei province near Beijing also deprived Guo of his political rights for three years, Attorney Li Jianqiang said by telephone.

Guo's wife, Zhao Changqing, condemned the conviction as illegal and planned to appeal, according to a statement sent to Reuters by e-mail.

Guo was arrested in June after taking part in one-day rolling hunger strikes by dissidents in support of human rights lawyer Guo Zhisheng, who was taken into police custody in September and on suspicion of inciting subversion of state power.

Court officials could not be reached for comment.

China is the world's leading jailer of journalists, with at least 32 in custody, and another 50 Internet campaigners also in prison, according to press watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

In August, a Beijing court jailed a Hong Kong-based reporter of Singapore's Straits Times for five years on a charge of spying, days after a court dismissed charges of illegally leaking state secrets against a Chinese researcher for the New York Times, but sentenced him to three years in prison for fraud.

REUTERS SP RAI1052