Mainland's Ex-internet Tsar Jailed For 14 Years

The mainland's former internet censor, who once held high-profile meetings with industry leaders such as Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, has been sentenced to 14 years in prison on corruption charges.

The Intermediate People's Court in the eastern city of Ningbo said Lu Wei had confessed to accepting 32 million yuan in bribes, expressed remorse and would not appeal his sentence.

Lu helped lead the ruling Communist Party's tightening of control over domestic cyberspace and championed Beijing's position that governments have a right to filter and censor their countries' internet.

The mainland's top graft watchdog expelled Lu from the Communist Party in last February, issuing an unusually florid statement that accused him of failing to carry out his duties and having a "tyrannical" management style.

Lu , who was once named among the world's 100 most influential people by Time magazine, stepped down from his position supervising controls over online expression as head of the Cyberspace Administration of China in June 2016.

And in November 2017 officials announced he was being investigated for suspected disciplinary violations.

Lu had fiercely defended the country's censorship apparatus after he was appointed in 2013. (AP, AFP)