166
submitted 11 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Chinese music student went on trial on Monday on U.S. charges that he harassed an activist who posted fliers at the Berklee College of Music in Boston supporting democracy in China and threatened to report her activities to Chinese law enforcement.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alathea Porter told a federal jury in Boston that Xiaolei Wu, 25, scared the activist, referred to only as Zooey in court, by making threats online to chop off her hands and report her to the Chinese government because of her "reactionary posters."

"She was afraid for herself, and she was afraid for her family, who was back in China," Porter said in her opening statement to a 12-person jury.

The trial comes as U.S. and Western authorities continue to warn that China's government has increasingly exerted pressure to silence its critics abroad.

all 42 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] magnetosphere@kbin.social 45 points 11 months ago

I’m usually much more merciful, but this guy pisses me off. He threatened to cripple a woman for life, and ruin the lives of her family members. I don’t care if the argument was “immature” and the guy is “misguided”. Those were major threats, and the fear he created is very real.

Being a hardcore nationalist is not a defense. Send this wannabe CCP agent back to the country he loves so much.

[-] Machinist3359@kbin.social 22 points 11 months ago

Nationalism is poison, no matter the nation.

[-] RubberElectrons@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yup, same. He probably won't get punished at home per se, but we certainly don't need to endorse him with our prestigious education system.

This was a genuinely bad action which deserves real consequences.

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

AFTER some time in US jail.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 40 points 11 months ago

Stupid kid is ruining his life for a government that doesn't care about him. And might be responsible for a family being hurt.

[-] Lemminary@lemmy.world 39 points 11 months ago

Inb4 the token "Westerners are so brainwashed with propaganda" guy who shows up in every other thread about China or Russia

[-] FunkyMonk@kbin.social 10 points 11 months ago

bruh one of the tankies really argued that chinese authority is the only path for earth.

[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.ca 8 points 11 months ago

Reminds me of "manditory conformity for the sake of unity" Texas seems to be supporting.

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

They told me that I am racist for supporting Ukraine because Russia, you see, has decided to re-exert its Asian identity. Oh, and totally check out these two articles that prove what they are saying. Oh, and I'm a terrible person for not agreeing.

[-] FunkyMonk@kbin.social 2 points 11 months ago

yeah the antileftist arguement for the longest time is 'HEY COMRADE? You hate ethnocentricity.... Well try OUR flavor!"

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I was also shocked to find that tankies think that anyone who talks about human impacts on the Earth are ecofacists. Weird people.

[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 13 points 11 months ago

So if they get convicted do they just get sent back? That feels like the easy fix.

[-] DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

I dunno. I think it might depend on if he gets a sentence of more than probation. He may have to serve time first then get deported.

[-] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

Certainly possible to have your immigration status revoked because of a conviction, but there are plenty of immigrants in US prisons.

[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 3 points 11 months ago

Yeah but this person's a student though? They're not technically here to immigrate, they're here on a temporary basis to study.

[-] originalfrozenbanana@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago

Anyone who isn’t a US citizen has an immigration status. You can be on a variety of visas, and as a student they are probably on a J1 or H1 visa. Other visas exist for a wide variety of purposes, and they all dictate how you can stay in the US: how long, under what conditions, etc.

You can also have a green card, which signifies that you are a permanent resident - you no longer need a visa but your immigration status can still be revoked (albeit with much more difficulty).

There are also people with no immigration status and no legal right to stay in the US. These people won’t always be instantly deported but they are subject to it at any time.

Finally if you’re a US citizen you have no immigration status since you are not an immigrant. Citizenship can’t be revoked except in exceedingly rare cases (like treason).

[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Why would that happen?

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

They would be deported once their sentence completes.

[-] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 10 points 11 months ago

+1000 social credit

[-] stoly@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

"He came here to learn guitar, not to shill for the Chinese Communist Party," he said.

Actually I think he came to do both.

[-] CassavaKing@lemmy.ml 1 points 11 months ago

Reading the heading, I wasn't sure if it was a Chinese music student, or a Chinese-music student

this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024
166 points (98.3% liked)

News

23664 readers
3560 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS