Guangdong rights activist finally pleads guilty, after earlier defiance

Meng Han, the last of four prominent Guangdong labour rights activists arrested in December, stood trial on Thursday and has been sentenced to 21 months in jail for disturbing social order, according to his lawyer Yan Xin.

The trial was held at a public security base in Panyu district, Guangzhou and came after three of Meng’s colleagues from the Guangdong Panyu Migrant Centre pled guilty in the same court in September.

Centre director Zeng Feiyang was sentenced to a three-year jail term, suspended for four years. Zhu Xiaomei and Tang Huanxing, who are also centre members, were each given 18-month jail sentences, suspended for two years.

Meng was tried separately as he had refused to confess as of September even though his parents were attacked by armed thugs in Zhongshan who vandalised their door and forced them to relocate to another city.

During Thursday’s trial, Meng relented and pleaded guilty to “gathering a crowd to disturb social order”, ending his year-long incarceration in a local detention centre, his lawyer said.