Pu Zhiqiang

One of China's most celebrated human rights lawyers was given a three-year suspended prison term today in the latest clampdown on critics of the ruling Communist Party.

The tough guys wore smiley face stickers, but they weren't there to spread good cheer. Scenes of pushing, shouting and shoving outside a Beijing courthouse this week were orchestrated by plainclothes security officers identified by a sticker familiar around the world - the yellow decal identified since the 1970s with the slogan "Have a Nice Day."

Security agents forcibly kept dozens of people away from the Beijing court where rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stood trial today, and authorities roughed up at least five protesters before taking them away in vehicles. At least one foreign journalist also reported being slammed to the ground.

The trial of one of China's most high profile human rights lawyers, on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and provoking trouble, lasted just three hours today, with police blocking diplomats, foreign reporters and protesters from the Beijing court.

Pu Zhiqiang, one of China's most well-known human rights lawyers, was tried today on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", in the country's most high-profile human rights trial this year.

A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer arrested this year has had to endure hours of interrogation and his health has suffered, his wife wrote in a letter released on Friday, calling for his immediate release.

Hundreds of international academics called Wednesday for the release of scholars and lawyers detained in China ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

One of China's most celebrated human rights lawyers was given a three-year suspended prison term today in the latest clampdown on critics of the ruling Communist Party.

The tough guys wore smiley face stickers, but they weren't there to spread good cheer. Scenes of pushing, shouting and shoving outside a Beijing courthouse this week were orchestrated by plainclothes security officers identified by a sticker familiar around the world - the yellow decal identified since the 1970s with the slogan "Have a Nice Day."

Security agents forcibly kept dozens of people away from the Beijing court where rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang stood trial today, and authorities roughed up at least five protesters before taking them away in vehicles. At least one foreign journalist also reported being slammed to the ground.

The trial of one of China's most high profile human rights lawyers, on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and provoking trouble, lasted just three hours today, with police blocking diplomats, foreign reporters and protesters from the Beijing court.

Pu Zhiqiang, one of China's most well-known human rights lawyers, was tried today on charges of inciting ethnic hatred and "picking quarrels and provoking trouble", in the country's most high-profile human rights trial this year.

A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer arrested this year has had to endure hours of interrogation and his health has suffered, his wife wrote in a letter released on Friday, calling for his immediate release.

Hundreds of international academics called Wednesday for the release of scholars and lawyers detained in China ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.