Four people received jail sentences after they were found guilty of forcing people with learning disabilities to work in a factory in Henan province, local newspaper Orient Today reported on Monday.

Wan Chengqun, general manager of a brick factory in Henan province's Xiping county, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail with a fine of 10,000 yuan ($1,600), the Xiping county people's court said on Sunday.

Three other suspects, who aided Wan in forcing the people with learning disabilities to work without payment, were sentenced to two years in jail.

The court found that the four people started to recruit the laborers in January 2011, and that they forced them to work with threats and physical attacks.

The case was initially exposed in August 2011 by a local TV program. A journalist pretended to be a person with learning disabilities at railway station in Zhengzhou.

He was taken away by two men several days later and sold to the brick factory in Xiping county.

He was beaten and forced to work for long hours with little food. He managed to escape and reported the case to police.

Police arrested the four suspects and rescued nine workers with mental illness from the brick factory in September 2011.