3 1/2 Years for Speaking Your Mind, Chinese Justice

Sometimes we as Americans take things for granted. Everyone in the United States can make the most offensive statement about our country and not get in trouble (i.e. in the legal sense). China is different. You can't speak against the State because the "State" is the entire populace (or in other words the dictatorial ruling elite). Hu Jia, human rights activist, spoke his mind and now he is behind bars.

A Chinese court Thursday sentenced an outspoken human rights advocate to three and a half years in prison after ruling that his critical essays and comments about Communist Party rule amounted to inciting subversion, his lawyer said.

The conviction of Hu Jia, 34, quickly brought outside criticism of China at a time when the government is already facing international concern over its handling of the Tibetan crisis. Hu's case has been followed closely, especially in Europe, and critics say his conviction is part of a government crackdown to silence dissidents before Beijing plays host to the Olympics in August.

The government of China's way of dealing with dissents...put them in jail. If no one is speaking out about Human Rights abuses, then there must be none, right?

More than a billion under control.