A University of Minnesota student was detained and sentenced in China for tweeting “unflattering portrayals of a national leader,” according to reporting from Axios.
Axios reports that 20-year-old Daiqing Luo was detained in July 2019 in his hometown of Wuhan, China after returning there for the summer. In November, he was sentenced to six months in prison on charges of “provocation.”
Court documents viewed by Axios say that Luo tweeted more than 40 comments which “created a negative social impact” while he was studying at the University in September and October 2018. Among his tweets were images comparing Chinese President Xi Jinping to cartoon characters, according to Axios.
Chinese students make up the largest portion of international students on campus. In 2018, 2,559 students from China attended the University, good for about 42 percent of all international students.
This is a breaking news report. More information will be added as it becomes available.
