China Gives US-Based Dissident Prison

AP

BEIJING -- A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced a U.S.-based dissident to five years in prison on spying charges.

Yang Jianli, who lives in suburban Boston, also was convicted of illegal border crossing after a trial in a Beijing court, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

The one-sentence report did not give any other details.

Yang, a Chinese citizen with permanent U.S. residency, was detained on April 26, 2002, while trying to board a flight in the southwestern city of Kunming using a false identity card. His Boston-based advocacy group, Foundation for China in the 21st Century, calls for political change in China.

--------------------------
Source: "AP".