ALARMING

China Sentences Pro-Democracy Taiwan Activist to Five Years in Prison

For allegedly seeking to “subvert state power” with online political lectures.

A Chinese court has sentenced a Taiwanese democracy activist to five years in prison for allegedly seeking to “subvert state power.” The trial against Lee Ming-che, who was detained on the charges earlier this year, was Beijing’s first known criminal prosecution of a nonprofit worker since the government tightened restrictions on foreign NGOs last year. Lee had conducted online political lectures and managed a fund for the relatives of political prisoners. Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of mainland China, condemned Lee’s sentence on Tuesday, as did Amnesty International. “He is the latest to suffer under the Chinese authorities’ relentless attack against human rights and democracy activists,” Roseann Rife, Amnesty International’s East Asia research director, said in a statement. Lee’s co-defendant, Peng Yuhua, received a seven-year sentence.