China Sentences Twitter Dissident to One Year Hard Labor

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How would you feel if you were sentenced to a year’s hard labor because of a single tweet? And it’s not even your own! This is exactly what happened to a Chinese Twitter user for retweeting something that was apparently inciting to dissent.

“Disturbing social stability” was what Cheng Jianping was sentenced for, simply for retweeting a supposedly humorous message that her fiancé originally wrote.

The tweet was meant to be a sarcastic message in reaction to Anti-Japan protests and demonstrations, in which Chinese youths smashed Japanese products across various Chinese cities (oh, those poor Japanese cars!). China and Japan are in a diplomatic row due to an island group that both countries claim.

The tweet apparently said “Actually the most efficient way should be flying to Shanghai right away and smashing Japanese Pavilion at Expo,” to which Cheng added “Go! Angry young people!”

A few days after, both Cheng and her fiance were arrested, with Cheng being summarily sentenced to a year’s time of hard labor.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo has reacted, tweeting a chiding message to the Chinese government: “Year-long detentions for sending a sarcastic tweet are neither the way forward nor the future of your great people.”