Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old human rights activist who was also detained in 2019 for speaking in support of anti-Beijing protests in Hong Kong, was convicted at the end of December following months of detention.

Prosecutors said Ms Zhang had spread “false information through text, video and other media through WeChat, Twitter and YouTube”.

According to Amnesty International, the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble under Article 293 of China’s criminal code is “a broadly defined and vaguely worded offence that has been widely used to target activists and human rights defenders”.

The law originally only applied to acts that disrupted order in public places, but was expanded in 2013 to include online platforms as well, with offenders facing up to five years in prison.

Ms Zhang’s lawyers said she has been on hunger strike since late June in protest of her detention and is in poor health following force-feeding by prison authorities.