Hu Jia, who has drawn international attention for his writings on human rights abuses in China, was accused of libeling "the Chinese political and social systems" and instigating "subversion of the state, which is a crime under Chinese law," Xinhua reported.

The ruling comes in the midst of widespread arrests by Chinese authorities who have cracked down on Tibetans protesting Chinese rule of their homeland. The unrest shows no sign of abating and threatens to upstage the Summer Olympics in Beijing in August.

The Beijing First Intermediate People's Court considered "Hu's confession of crime" and made its ruling with leniency, resulting in less hard punishment, Xinhua reported.

Hu was accused of publishing articles from August 2006 to October 2007 on foreign Web sites and making comments to foreign media, and instigating people to subvert the Chinese political and socialist systems.