BEIJING  A Chinese court sentenced an outspoken human rights advocate on Thursday to three and a half years in prison after ruling that his critical essays and comments about Communist Party rule amounted to inciting subversion, his lawyer said.

The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human rights proponents in China, has quickly drawn outside criticism of China at a time when the government is already facing international concern over its handling of the Tibetan crisis.

Mr. Hu’s case has been followed closely, especially in Europe, and critics say his conviction is part of a government crackdown to silence dissidents before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games in August.

In Bucharest, Romania, where President Bush was attending NATO meetings, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized the sentence and said that the United States would continue to raise the issue of human rights with Chinese leaders in the months leading up to the Olympics.