China Jails Journalist For Leaking ‘State Secrets’

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China has jailed a top journalist for seven years for leaking a confidential paper to a foreign website. Gao Yu, 71, had “illegally provided state secrets to foreigners”, the court in Beijing said. BBC was there:

China has not confirmed which document the case relates to, but it is thought to be a Communist Party strategy paper known as “Document No 9”.

The paper is said to call for aggressive restrictions on democracy, civil society and the press.

Amnesty International called the sentence “an affront to justice”.

Gao was “the victim of vaguely worded and arbitrary state-secret laws that are used against activists as part of the authorities’ attack on freedom of expression”, said William Nee, China researcher at the rights group.

Shang Baojun, one of her lawyers, said they were “very disappointed” with the verdict and would appeal.