China Jails Journalist Over Document Leak

A Chinese journalist has been sentenced to seven years in prison for leaking a Communist Party document known as Document No 9.

The court in Beijing handed down the sentence to Gao Yu, 71, amid criticism of increasingly harsh penalties for freedom of speech, highlighting the gap between China's vision of the rule of law and Western views on social freedoms and judicial fairness.

Ms Gao's lawyer said she was found guilty of handing the paper to a media group from abroad.

The lawyer said the document argued for a strengthening of curbs on the influence of Western democracy, universal values, civil society and press freedom, all of which the party considers a threat to its power.

The paper was published in a magazine in Hong Kong in 2013 but has never been openly discussed.

Speaking after the sentencing, an EU senior official in Beijing, Raphael Droszewski, called the verdict "deeply concerning".

The EU delegation is deeply concerned about the verdict handed down to (the) veteran journalist Gao Yu," said the First Secretary for Political Affairs at the EU delegation in Beijing.

"And this sentence has heightened our general concern over the situation of human rights defenders in China, including journalists and bloggers, who have been persecuted for expressing their views or exercising their right to information."

Ms Gao, 71, who denied the charges, will appeal.

The journalist, who has written about Chinese politics, economics and social issues for decades, served time in prison more than 20 years ago, after being charged over state secrets.