Our family is too poor to save him

Lu Xinhua's mother

Lu, 29, also said corruption in China could only be curbed by the separation of the administrative, legislative and judicial branches of government, and a more stable legal system.

He is reportedly a founder of the Wuhan branch of the outlawed China Democracy Party (CDP).

Lu's mother told AFP news agency her son was sentenced last month in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei province.

"Our family is too poor to save him," she said.

She said her son was arrested last March when police raided their home and took away their computer.

Lu's article reportedly said the president's theories revealed he was steeped in the feudalistic system of imperial dictatorship.

Hunger striker

In a separate case, another CDP member, Wang Jinbo, was also sentenced last month for posting on the internet an article about the 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protests, the human rights group said.

He called for the government to reverse its verdict on the student-led protests, which it described as "anti revolutionary."

Wang, 29, was tried and convicted in Linyi city, eastern Shandong province. He is appealing against the verdict.

Wang began a hunger strike last Wednesday to protest at the police's refusal to allow him family visits.

"We have tried every week to visit him, but we are refused each time," Mr Wang's mother told AFP.

The China Democracy Party was formally founded in August 1998. By the end of the year, its three main founders Xu Wenli, Wang Youcai and Qin Yongmin had been sentenced to 13, 12 and 11 years in prison respectively for subversion.