A Chinese court has jailed a US-based dissident for life today for "organising and leading a terrorist group" in the first case in which a terrorism charge has been used to convict a democracy activist.
The official Xinhua news agency said Wang Bingzhang (55) had plotted to bomb the Chinese embassy in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, during visits in 2001 and was preparing to build a terrorist training base in northern Thailand.
It also accused him of spying for rival Taiwan.
The sentence, possibly the heaviest of its kind since the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, drew immediate protests from international rights groups.
Wang, who has a doctorate in medical research and had lived in New York since 1982, was convicted by the Intermediate People's Court in the southern town of Shenzhen at a one-day trial behind closed doors in January.
Human rights activists say he was kidnapped from Vietnam last year by Chinese security agents. It was not clear whether he would appeal.
Xinhua also said Wang had given orders for bombings and assassinations to disrupt China's October 1st National Day celebrations in 1999. No such incidents were reported that year.
The agency claimed Wang wrote and published books and posted articles on websites, "agitating terrorist activities".