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Chinese environmental activist and daughter sentenced to labor camp, says wife
A Chinese environmental activist and his daughter have been sentenced to re-education through labor without a trial on charges of passing state secrets abroad, his wife said Thursday.
Sun Xiaodi, 55, a former uranium mine worker in the northwest province of Gansu who has campaigned against alleged environmental degradation since 1988, was sentenced to two years labour re-education, Hu Jianhong told AFP.
Their daughter, Sun Haiyan, 25, was given the same punishment for 18 months, Hu said over the phone, crying as she expressed deep concern for her only child, whom she has not been able to see for over a month.
"For more than 20 years, they have continuously persecuted us, harassed us, and now, they have taken it out on my daughter," Hu said.
Hu was notified of the sentences Thursday morning. Hu said her daughter was accused of helping her father pass on information about his former mine to organizations abroad, a claim she said was untrue.
Her husband was accused of giving interviews about the uranium mine and its alleged pollution in June 2004, and of having continued to obtain information since then, the notice of the punishments said, according to Hu.