Chinese internet-activist on trial - by Peter Foster

Wang Lihong, a 55-year-old woman doctor who is one of a surging number of bloggers using the internet to draw attention to the lack of basic civil rights in China, pleaded not guilty to a catch-all charge of "creating a disturbance" which carries a maximum penalty of five years in jail.

A group of at least 40 friends, supporters and fellow-activists gathered outside the court in west Beijing to chant slogans – 'Wang Lihong come home!' and 'Wang Lihong is innocent!' – watched over by large numbers of police, many carrying video cameras.

Officially Mrs Wang's charges relate to allegations that she participated in a similar, but larger, demonstration outside a court in the southern city of Fuzhou in April 2010 where three fellow bloggers were on trial for 'slandering'

Unofficially, say activists, Mrs Wang is one of dozens of activists that the Chinese government has moved to silence following the so-called Jasmine revolutions earlier this year, with dozens of lawyers, bloggers, activists and artists, including Ai Weiwei, detained

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