Reports: Former University Of Minnesota Student Arrested In China For Criticizing Country's President
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Multiple news outlets are reporting that a University of Minnesota student has been sentenced to six months in prison for tweeting messages that were critical of China's President Xi Jinping.
School officials confirmed that Luo Daiqing, 20, attended the University of Minnesota during the 2018 to 2019 school year. He was enrolled in the school's College of Liberal Arts.
Daiqing reportedly sent the tweets while in the United States. He was detained in Wuhan, while back home in China during his summer break in July 2019.
Court documents accused Daiqing of posting more than 40 comments and images that made fun of the country's leader.
He was charged with provocation. His Twitter account has since been removed.
Some of the tweets compared the president's appearance to Winnie the Pooh, a character currently censored in China because of the comparison.
As the New York Times reports, China has recently escalated its crackdown on any criticism of the country's president.