China imprisons activist stung by tainted formula

A man whose child fell ill had staged protests and used the Internet to demand more action.

By Keith B. Richburg
The Washington Post

Posted: 11/11/2010 01:00:00 AM MST

Zhao Lianhai, center, speaks to journalists outside a courthouse in 2009. He was found guilty of inciting social disorder for setting up a website to help other parents with sick children share information. (Associated Press file photo )

BEIJING — A Chinese court on Wednesday imposed a 2½-year prison sentence on a man who became an activist after his son suffered kidney problems linked to contaminated baby formula.

Zhao Lianhai was convicted of inciting public disorder by setting up a website to help other parents with sick children share information and seek compensation and by organizing protests.

Zhao's attorneys and others said the sentence appeared to indicate that China's ruling Communist Party remains intolerant of critics — including AIDS activists, environmentalists and others well outside the political realm — and will be particularly tough on those who use the Internet to organize others around a cause.
The 2008 baby-formula scandal was the worst in a string of tainted-food cases in China, killing at least six infants and leaving 300,000 seriously ill. The formula had been contaminated with melamine, an industrial plastic, to make it bulkier — which increased profits for the manufacturer. But melamine also can cause kidney stones and kidney disease in children and infants.

China responded by prosecuting officials at the Sanlu dairy company, some local government workers and farmers involved in the contamination. Several were sentenced to lengthy prison terms, and three people were executed. But families said the government's response and compensation were inadequate, and Zhao emerged as their champion and public face.

Zhao was working for an advertising agency when his son, Pengrui, now 5, fell ill. Zhao set up a website to help families share information and press the government to be more accountable. The concerned father organized meetings, gave media interviews and held silent protests outside a dairy factory and court.

He was arrested in November 2009. One of Zhao's attorneys, Peng Jian, said their legal team was not able to speak to or call any witnesses.



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