Prominent southern China labour activist avoids jail

Zeng Feiyang, director of the Guangdong Panyu Migrant Workers Center, talks on his phone during an interview in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, January 20, 2015. REUTERS/Alexandra Harney

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Chinese court handed down a three-year suspended jail sentence for a prominent labour activist based in the southern city of Guangzhou on Monday, while two other defendants were given 18-month suspended sentences, a lawyer and rights group said.

Zeng Feiyang, director of the Panyu Migrant Workers Centre in the city, had been detained for "disturbing social order" in December as part of a crackdown on labour rights defenders in southern China, home to tens of thousands of factories.