US Calls For Release Of 4 Chinese Human Rights Activists

The United States called on China on Monday to release four human rights lawyers and activists who were convicted of subversion last week.

Attorneys Zhou Shifeng and Gou Hongguo and activists Hu Shigen and Zhai Yanmin were given sentences ranging from three to 7-1/2 years in prison by a court in China's northeastern city of Tianjin.

"We urge Chinese authorities to release the lawyers and rights defenders who are imprisoned or in detention, including those already sentenced," State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said in a statement.