A Chinese music student was sentenced on Wednesday to nine months in a U.S. prison for harassing an activist who posted fliers at the Berklee College of Music in Boston supporting democracy in China and threatening to report her activities to Chinese law enforcement.
Casper, in imposing a shorter sentence, noted that Wu’s harassment campaign while “egregious” was short – just two days – and that Wu, who had no previous criminal history, would be deported upon completing his sentence. U.S. and Western authorities have been working to counter efforts by China’s government to silence its critics abroad. Human rights groups have complained of threats to academic freedom and monitoring of Chinese students on international university campuses.
He did so after seeing a photo on Instagram that the activist had posted in October 2022 of a flier she placed on the campus of the private music college that said, “We Want Freedom,” “We Want Democracy,” and “Stand with Chinese People.”