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Priscilla Jiao

The two-and-a-half-year jail sentence handed down yesterday on milk scandal activist Zhao Lianhai  was meant as a warning to those who challenge the authorities, but it appeared to backfire.
Parents of children still suffering from the effects of melamine-tainted infant formula expressed outrage at the sentence and vowed to step up their fight for justice. Four fathers whose children suffer from kidney problems gathered outside Daxing District People's Court in Beijing to support Zhao, shouting that they were not scared to be jailed with him. 
Zhao's family also vowed to continue their fight for his release. Even Zhao Pengrui, Zhao's five-year-old son, held up a sheet of paper with the message 'Daddy come home' on it as he waited outside the court. 
About 15 supporters shouted: 'The government is guilty! [The government] is not taking responsibility for us!' 
 Zhu Fuxiang, a 59-year-old supporter, said: 'Zhao was helping and saving thousands of child victims and their parents, but he himself was framed as guilty.' 
Xiang Qingyu, 35, from Lianyungang , Jiangsu , was one of those outside the court. His five-year-old son, who drank Shengyuan brand melamine-tainted milk for more than a year, suffered kidney stones. 
'What Zhao has done was for thousands of children who are still suffering,' Xiang said. 'He didn't break any law at all. 
'Zhao is campaigning not for personal reasons but only for the rights to survive for thousands of children. 
'That, as the leader of us parents, Zhao received such a sentence makes us all feel very upset. 
'The harsh sentence won't scare us. To protect our children, we will never back off. We are willing to go to jail with Zhao.' 
Zhou Xiong, whose son also suffered kidney stones, told Cable TV that he was willing to be jailed for five years as long as he could continue to fight for the victims of melamine-tainted milk.
One supporter, known by the Twitter pseudonym Panda, talked to two television journalists in front of their cameras. She said she was usually very careful about talking to journalists. This time she felt she had no choice as the authorities had crossed the line. 
'The authorities thought it [the sentence] could scare us away, which is so wrong and naive,' she said. 
'Zhao is here to sustain our conscience. For parents, it's impossible to scare them away from fighting for their children.' 
Liu Linna, a human rights activist, said the sentence came as a shock. 
'When I heard it, I really couldn't accept it. Zhao is only protecting the bottom line: our rights to survive and to be healthy,' Liu said. 'It's such a basic right.'
Internet users expressed fury at the sentence on Twitter. One, Zhang Hui, wrote: 'The milk powder companies poisoned the milk and the legal system poisons society.' 
Some have also started a campaign calling for internet users to take turns to stage hunger strikes as a protest gesture.



Activist's supporters react to prison term with defiance