WASHINGTON (AP) - The Trump administration is calling on China to immediately release a jailed human rights lawyer who was convicted of subverting state power.
The State Department says in a statement it is deeply concerned by the 4½-year prison sentence handed down to Wang Quanzhang. It says he had been held for 3½ years in pre-trial detention, often incommunicado and deprived of a lawyer of his choice.
The department says it was troubled by his treatment and is urging Chinese authorities to reunite him with his family. Wang was arrested in a 2015 crackdown on legal advocates.
The statement comes as relations between the U.S. and China grow rockier over trade and criminal charges brought against a leading Chinese tech company.
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