Up to 200 police surrounded the home of the activist lawyer Ni and her husband Dong Jiqin as a bulldozer demolished the rest of the central Beijing courtyard home that Dong's parents purchased in 1951.

Authorities had already razed much of it in April.

"The home is not so important, what is important is that Ni Yulan should be released from jail," a visibly shaken and tearful Dong told AFP as he watched the razing of the home where he was born.

"She was illegally arrested, beaten, jailed and illegally threatened to agree with this demolition."

Workers came knocking on the door early Friday morning, while police blocked both ends of the road leading to the home, refusing entry to those without proper identification.

Dong, 56, was able to only grab a plastic bag of legal documents before he was escorted out of the home.

Ni is a long-time campaigner against government-backed land grabs and has organised evicted residents to protest what they have alleged are government backed "illegal forceful eviction and demolition of homes."

The issue is one of the most sensitive social problems in China, with ordinary residents nationwide accusing local government officials of enriching themselves through collusion with developers in lucrative real estate deals.

Ni, 47, who has worked with other leading activists or "rights defenders" like Hu Jia and Gao Zhisheng, was arrested and charged with "obstructing official business" in April after wrecking teams destroyed most of the home.

Hu was sentenced to prison earlier this year, while Gao has disappeared and is believed to be in police custody.

Ni previously served a year in prison in 2002 for opposing evictions in Beijing.

"Who told you Ni Yulan has been jailed? I have never heard of this," said an official with Beijing's Xicheng government who refused to identify himself.

"This home is being forcibly demolished in accordance with the law."

earlier related report
Chinese social critic jailed for subversion: lawyer
A Chinese writer and social critic has been sentenced to three years in prison for subversion after posting articles on the Internet criticising the ruling Communist Party, his lawyer said Saturday.

Chen Daojun was convicted by a court in southwest China's Sichuan province on Friday after a 30 minute trial, his lawyer Zhu Jiuhu told AFP.

"He was sentenced to three years in prison for the crime of inciting the subversion of state power," Zhu said.

"The prosecution used three of Chen's online articles criticising the Communist Party and government as evidence of his guilt."

Chen was originally charged with the crime of "inciting secession" due to an article he wrote that supported anti-China protests which swept through Tibet in March, but that charge was dropped, Zhu said.

"His article expressing support for the Tibetan protests was not used as evidence in the trial," Zhu said.

The prosecution had earlier cited Chen's article "The Government Forces the People to Rebel: a Tribute to the Tibetans who Staged a Heroic Struggle," as evidence of inciting secession.

It was not clear why the court chose to change the charges against Chen, he said.

Chen, 40, was detained in May at his home in Chengdu city, the capital of Sichuan province, according to the Chinese Human Rights Defenders, a rights group in China that is largely organised through the Internet.

"The Chinese Human Rights Defenders believes that Chen has been imprisoned solely for the peaceful activities of expressing his opinions," the group said in a statement.

"We call for Chen's immediate and unconditional release."

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