A Chinese student in the US has been sentenced to nine months in prison for stalking and threatening a female Chinese student who put up pro-democracy fliers on campus.

The fliers, put up at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in late 2022, read: “We want freedom… We want democracy, we want to love, stand with Chinese people.”

In response, Xiaolei Wu said he would “chop [the woman’s] hands off”.

A federal judge has ordered that the 26-year-old be deported after serving his sentence.

“What Mr. Wu did in weaponising the authoritarian nature of the People’s Republic of China to threaten this woman is incredibly disturbing," said Jodi Cohen, who leads the FBI’s Boston Division that investigated the case.

The pro-democracy fliers were put up in late October 2022 during a wave of activism among Chinese people abroad.