Hu Jia, the most prominent victim so far of a crackdown on human rights activists in China ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games in August, was sentenced to three and a half years in prison Thursday, after a Beijing court found him guilty of subversion and libel. Mr. Hu, an outspoken advocate and blogger on AIDS and environmental issues, had been under house arrest for over 200 days when he was taken from his home in late December by state security agents. A month later, Mr. Hu, 34 years old, was formally charged with instigating subversion of the state and libel against the Chinese political system for publishing essays on the Internet that were critical of China's human-rights record. (Wall Street Journal ^[1], Thursday)

When will this kind of stuff end?

FEE Timely Classic
The Market and Political Freedom ^[2] by John Marangos