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.

  • MamboGator@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    And he’ll never realize the irony of how lucky he is that he’s going through the Western justice system instead of China’s.

    • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      yeah ours is bad as fuck but…parts of you get sold over there. Didn’t most of that bodies exhibit turn out to be Chinese prisoners?

        • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Just looked it up again. Lot’s of accusations and basically all the Bodies people have said is ‘nope totally donated from this one medical school’ but that school can provide absolutely no documentation that they are actually donated willingly.

          • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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            5 months ago

            Well, the school might have…. But where did they get the bodies from (ominous music!)

            • EdibleFriend@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              No seriously that’s the crux of this. Thats where the paper trail seems to run cold it seems. They definitely came from this school and the school is just like ‘fuck you they were donated’

      • SuperApples@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        There’s enough provable atrocities being committed by the Chinese govt to worry about the conspiracy theories as well. Especially when a lot of the body and organ harvest theories are spread by a California mansion dwelling homophobic cult leader who can totally levitate he just doesn’t have to prove it to you!

      • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Parts of people have always been sold for research and it’s no different than any other reagent. Some people even turned this into a successful business by the turn of the 50s by selling and patenting their tissues with remarkable abilities like immunity to polio. This wouldn’t surprise anyone in the medical sciences.

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
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      5 months ago

      Ah Chinese are aware of the dangers of being invited for tea. They’d probably be in trouble if they didn’t harass this person.

  • magnetosphere@kbin.social
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    5 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.

  • Lemminary@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

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

      • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

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

      • stoly@lemmy.world
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        5 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
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          5 months ago

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

          • stoly@lemmy.world
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            5 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.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    5 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.

    • DocMcStuffin@lemmy.world
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      5 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
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      5 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
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        5 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
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          5 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).

  • stoly@lemmy.world
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    5 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
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    5 months ago

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