Chinese Courts Sentence Dissidents
Last Friday two separate Chinese courts ruled against political dissidents in cases that are considered unjust to observers. One of the convicted persons was a New York Times researcher that investigated corruption and spoke out for peasants rights. The other man has documented forced abortions. In both cases the men were not allowed to bring forth witnesses on their behalf. For more on this read the full story here.

I understand the reality that China is a major political, economic, and military force, but I feel the international community needs to step up its pressure on China for human rights abuses. I know, for example, the WTO tries to put some political pressure on the Chinese government, but more needs to be done. It will be interesting to see what, if any, influence the 2008 Olympics will have on the Chinese culture.