Chinese Teacher Sent to Labor Camp Over Quake Dissent

Man posted photos of collapsed schools
By Sam Biddle,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2008 11:31 AM CDT
Chinese Teacher Sent to Labor Camp Over Quake Dissent
Parents who lost their children burn papers to mourn their loved ones at the collapsed Wufu primary school in Wufu , southwest China's Sichuan province, Friday, June 20, 2008.    (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

A Chinese teacher has been sent to a labor camp for a year of "re-education" after he posted online photos of school buildings that collapsed during the Sichuan earthquake, the Guardian reports. The man, who was neither formally charged with a crime nor given a trial, is one of many demanding answers from the Chinese government as to why so many schools were destroyed while nearby buildings remained standing.

China has suppressed allegations that the schools were shoddily constructed as a result of corruption, stifling speculation within the state media and buying silence from protesting citizens. The teacher was detained June 25 for "disseminating rumors and destroying social order," reports a human rights group. China holds suspects in labor camps for up to 4 years; there is no appeal.
(More China earthquake stories.)

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