Zhang Shanguang was sentenced by a court in South China's Hunan province for giving interviews to the US government-funded RFA, CNN reported.

Zhang, who earlier had spent seven years in prison for campaigning for labour rights, is the fourth dissident given a harsh punishment by a Chinese court in just over a week.

Unlike earlier three sentences, there was no official confirmation to Zhang's imprisonment.

The foreign news network said the court ruled that by disclosing to RFA about farmers' protests, Zhang violated China's criminal laws that forbids people from providing intelligence to foreigners.

The court, however, did not sentence Zhang to death, the maximum penalty carried by the crime.

Zhang was reportedly arrested in July this year as he was trying to set up an organisation to protect laid-off workers' rights.

Today'ssentencing follows a crackdown during last week which saw three prominent dissidents given harsh jail terms.

Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang Youcai were charged with subversion and sentenced to 13 years, 12 years and 11 years respectively for trying to organise an opposition party to the ruling communist party of China.