Chinese democracy activist Li Tie has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for subversion, becoming the third dissident to be put behind bars in less than a month, a relative said Thursday.

His sentence comes at a sensitive time in China, where the government is nervous about the one-year anniversary of online calls for Arab-style protests in China and a major leadership transition that takes place in the autumn.

According to the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), Li's sentence revolves around articles he wrote criticising the government and his participation in discussions hosted on "reactionary" websites.

He was sentenced on Wednesday in the central city of Wuhan, one of his relatives told AFP, asking not to be identified.

"Li's lawyer, surnamed Xia, has refused to give us a copy of the verdict. He was appointed by the court and we had never met him before the court hearing," the relative said.

"Li Tie says he wants to appeal, so we are looking for a new lawyer to help us."

The Wuhan Intermediate People's Court, which issued the sentence, refused to comment when contacted by AFP.

CHRD said Li's family had originally hired rights lawyer Jin Guanghong, but he was never allowed to meet with his client and was taken away by authorities around 10 days before Li's April trial amid a wider crackdown on dissent.

Authorities appointed Xia to represent Li, who has written online articles promoting democracy, a constitutional government and direct local elections over the past decade, it added.

According to the group, prosecutors at Li's April trial argued his articles and speech demonstrated he had "anti-government thoughts", which could lead to anti-government actions and subversion.

Rights groups say subversion charges in China are often used to jail government critics. Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo was convicted on the same charge in 2009 and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Longtime dissidents Chen Wei and Chen Xi were also jailed for nine and 10 years respectively at the end of December for subversion, and veteran activist Zhu Yufu has just been charged with the same crime.

"The Communist Party is punishing veteran activists one by one in a relentless campaign to silence people it deems a threat to its grip on power," Sarah Schafer, a researcher at Amnesty International, told AFP.

"We think this steady tightening is related to the leadership transition but also to the Arab Spring, and we do not think it will end soon."

Escaped dissident warns of China role
Washington (AFP) Jan 18, 2012 - A prominent Chinese dissident who fled last week to the United States cautioned Wednesday over Beijing's influence in the world, saying that the communist state was bent on exporting its model.

Yu Jie, a writer who defiantly published a critical biography of Premier Wen Jiabao in 2010 in Hong Kong, said that he was physically assaulted and harassed before he eventually made the decision to fly into exile in Washington.

"I think the danger of this evil is even greater than the Soviet Union because during the Cold War, the Soviet Union was behind the Iron Curtain and not a part of the globalized world," Yu told a news conference.

"Not only is the Chinese government persecuting its own people, but also it's exporting this system to other countries, such as in Africa," he said.

Yu has complained that he was forbidden from publishing or practicing his religion. He is a member of a Protestant church which is not authorized by the Chinese government.

The 38-year-old said that he came under tighter surveillance after fellow dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, including suffering physical abuse by authorities.

"They stripped off all my clothes and pushed me to the ground and started hitting me -- more than 100 times," Yu said.

Yu urged international pressure on China, saying: "I think the Western countries overlooking the human rights issues will even harm their own interests."

Liu, a fellow author who published an audacious petition for democratic reforms, is the only Nobel Peace Prize winner in prison. He was sentenced to 11 years in prison for subversion on Christmas Day 2009.

Human rights groups frequently voice concern about other Chinese dissidents who remain in the country including Chen Guangcheng, a blind self-taught lawyer who alleged forced abortions under the country's one-child-only policy.

Chen and his wife have reported being beaten and all visitors seeking to visit his home have been blocked.

Gao Zhisheng, a lawyer who has defended some of China's most vulnerable groups including Christians and coal miners, has been held largely incommunicado since his arrest in February 2009.

Gary Locke, the US ambassador to Beijing, said in an interview Monday that China's human rights situation was deteriorating as the communist leadership felt threatened by pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East.

"The Chinese leaders are very fearful of something similar happening within China," Locke told "The Charlie Rose Show" on US public television.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Wednesday that Locke's concerns were shared across the administration.

"We are being quite forthright with the Chinese government about our concerns," she said.