Buddhists continue on a daily basis to fight the heavy handed propaganda machine of the Chinese in Beijing who insist that the human rights situation in China is fine. Syracuse Buddhists have been terribly disturbed by recent news of a nine year jail term for Chinese dissident Chen Wei which is seen as a sign that the human rights situation in Tibet will not improve at anytime in the near future.
The Tibet Sun has reported "Chinese dissident Chen Wei jailed for nine years." Lawyers and rights groups have said a court in southwest China has sentenced veteran human rights activist Chen Wei to nine years in jail for “inciting subversion of state power”. Chen was among dozens of Chinese activists who were detained by Chinese police in February in the wake of political upheaval that shook up the Arab world and set off calls for similar anti-government demonstrations in China. China Human Rights Defenders have said 42 year old Chen was convicted by the court in Suining city in Sichuan province after a trial which lasted less than three hours over essays he had written which were critical of the Communist Chinese Party.
Chen's lawyer, Zheng Jianwei, has said Chen does not plan to appeal the sentence. Zheng said “He is not guilty. He criticised the party and there was no law banning that.” After hearing the sentence in court Chen said he was innocent and declared “democracy will definitely prevail and dictators will definitely fall”. Meanwhile tensions have persisted between Tibetans and the Chinese authorities in Tibet were Buddhists report human rights violations are rampant.
