Wang, 42, had defended political campaigners and victims of land seizures, as well as followers of the banned spiritual Falun Gong movement. 

He was one of several lawyers and activists arrested in a 2015 crackdown, and the last to go on trial. 

China has intensified its prosecution of rights lawyers in recent years. 

Mr Wang was "found guilty of subverting state power, sentenced to four years and six months in prison, and deprived of political rights for five years," the court in Tianjin said. 

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