Chinese writer Chen Wei has been sentenced to nine years in prison for "inciting subversion of state power".
The trial in Suining was held behind closed doors on Friday and lasted two hours.
His crime was publishing several essays online calling for freedom of speech and reform of China's one-party system.
The BBC reports Chen was among hundreds of dissidents detained earlier this year after online calls for protests in China inspired by the uprisings in the Middle East.
In addition to the prison sentence, his political rights were taken away for a further two years.
Chen, 42, is a veteran pro-democracy campaigner, having been jailed for his part in the student protest in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
He is also a signatory of Charter 08 - a manifesto for democratic reform that was co-written by Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo. Liu is serving an 11-year prison term for producing the document.
