Absolutely appalling.

Reporters Without Borders has expressed outrage after two cyberdissidents, Kong Youping and Ning Xianhua, were sentenced respectively to 15 and 12 years in prison by a court in Shenyang in Liaoning province in the north-east of the country.

They were both accused of “subversion of state power” for posting articles on the Internet in support of the Chinese Democratic Party (CDP)….

These sentences are the latest in a long list of repressive measures the Chinese government has taken recently to stifle freedom of _expression on the Internet,” said the international press freedom organisation in reaction to the 16 September 2004 sentences.

But when you look at what these men did, you realize that they probably deserve every year in the hell they’ve been sentenced to:

Kong Youping was arrested in December 2003 for posting five articles and seven poems on a foreign website challenging the official version of the Beijing Spring and criticising corruption among political leaders. He had also called for the release of the young Internet-user Liu Di, who was released in November 2003.

Imagine that. Five articles, seven poems and an appeal to release a young lady who had the temerity to suggest China would fare better under a more democratic system. (She was later released.) If that doesn’t merit 15 years in the Chinese dungeons, what does?

Update: See Stephen Frost’s post from January to see examples of Kong’s dreadfuyl crimes. Amazing.