Tang Hui won a legal battle after being sentenced to 18 months in a labour camp (Reuters)

A woman in China has won a legal battle for compensation after she was sent to a labour camp for demanding justice for her rape victim daughter.

Tang Hui petitioned for harsher sentences for the men found guilty of raping her 11-year-old daughter and forcing her into prostitution.

Her daughter was attacked in 2006 and held by the men while she was forced forced into prostitution. Two defendants were sentenced to death, four to life in prison and one to 15 years in jail.

Tang demanded the death penalty for all convicted rapists. But her campaign resulted in her incarceration in a labour camp in Yongzhou for "seriously disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society".

Re-education through labour camps allow police in China to detain people for up to four years without open trial, a practice that has become increasingly criticised in recent years.

Tang was sentenced to 18 months in the labour camp but was released after eight days following a public outcry.

Tang won compensation but her demand for an apology was refused (Reuters)

She filed a lawsuit against the state asking for compensation and a formal apology.

The Hunan Provincial Higher People's Court ordered the Yongzhou municipality to pay 2,614 yuan (£317) for infringing Tang's personal freedom and causing psychological damage but refused a formal apology.

"At this point, I want to let bygones be bygones. I want to spend more time with my daughter and to wipe all those bad things from my memory. I just want some peace and to have a good rest," she said after the verdict.

The Chinese government announced it would end the re-education system at labour camps in January this year.