China upholds jail term for blind rights activist

BEIJING, Jan 12 (Reuters) A Chinese appeals court tpday upheld a guilty verdict and jail term of four years and three months for a blind human rights activist who provided legal services to peasants.

The court confirmed a decision by a court in Yinan in the eastern province of Shandong on charges against Chen Guangcheng critics say were concocted by officials angry at his exposure of forced late-term abortions and other coercive birth control measures.

''Chen was convicted of damaging public property and organising a mob to disrupt traffic and pressuring the government,'' Xinhua news agency said.

It said that Linyi Intermediate People's Court, which had ordered a re-hearing of the case after Chen's attorneys were barred from defending him during the first trial in August, had handed down a final verdict.

The Yinan court held a retrial in November but stuck to its earlier ruling. Chen subsequently appealed to the Linyi court.

Chen, 35, is known as a self-taught ''barefoot lawyer'' for providing legal advice to peasants.

Chinese activists have said the heavy sentence shows officials are clamping down on ''rights defenders'' -- a network of lawyers and activists seeking to expand freedoms through litigation and Internet-driven campaigns.

REUTERS PDM DS1145