Chinese dissident jailed

A United States-based human rights group says that a political dissident in China has been jailed for five years on subversion charges.

The New York-based group Human Rights in China says the man, Zhao Changqing, was arrested last November among about 200 political activists who signed an open letter to the authorities calling for political reform.

The letter included a call for national democratic elections and the freeing of all political prisoners.

The group says Mr Zhao was sentenced by the Xian Intermediate People's Court after a closed trial in July.

Mr Zhao has been imprisoned by the Chinese authorities twice before - once for six months after he took part in the Tiananmen Square demonstrations of 1989 and later for three years after he protested against alleged violations of election laws by a district government.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service