By Nate Raymond
BOSTON (Reuters) – A Chinese music student was sentenced to nine months in U.S. prison on Wednesday for harassing an activist who posted flyers at Boston’s Berklee College of Music supporting democracy in China and threatening to report her activities to Chinese law enforcement.
Prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge Denise Casper in Boston to sentence Xiaolei Wu, 26, to nearly three years in prison to send a message that the United States would not tolerate China’s attempts to silence people of Chinese origin who express opinions that disagree with the government. .
Casper, in imposing a shorter sentence, noted that Wu’s campaign of harassment, while “egregious,” had been short – just two days – and that Wu, who had no criminal history, would be deported once his sentence served.
But she added that a prison sentence was nevertheless justified to deter other Chinese nationals who come to study in the United States and to ensure they know that “no one can engage in criminal conduct, especially conduct aimed at suppressing freedom of expression.
U.S. and Western officials are working to counter the Chinese government’s efforts to silence its critics abroad. Human rights groups have complained about threats to academic freedom and surveillance of Chinese students on international university campuses.
Wu, who was in the United States on a student visa, was convicted by a jury in January of cyberstalking and threats for what prosecutors say was a campaign he launched to harass a recent Berklee graduate, called in court only under the name Zooey.
He did so after seeing a photo on Instagram that the activist had posted in October 2022 of a flyer she had placed on the campus of the private music school that read: “We want freedom,” “We want democracy” and “Support the Chinese”. People.”
In response, Wu posted to a 300-person discussion among Chinese Berklee students and alumni on the social media app WeChat, asking her to remove her “reactionary” flyers and threatened to cut off her hands if she posted any any further.
Prosecutors said he made additional threats and claimed to have alerted a Chinese public security agency about her, a threat he followed through on by reporting her to his mother, a Chinese government official.
Wu, a guitarist who studied jazz, apologized in court Wednesday for his “reckless behavior,” saying he had to “take responsibility and accept what I did.”
“For making Zoey feel threatened, I’m truly sorry,” he said.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Leslie Adler)
