tagged w/ Hu Jia
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"Hu Jia, one of China's best-known dissidents, was yesterday awarded an EU human rights prize, despite a warning from Beijing that selecting the political prisoner would damage relations.
His wife and supporters welcomed the news that MEPs had picked him for the Sakharov prize, worth €50,000 (£39,500) Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and the East Timorese leader, Xanana Gusmao.
"Hu Jia is one of the real defenders of human rights in the People's Republic of China," said Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European parliament.
Hu was sentenced to three and a half years in jail this spring on subversion charges, amid what human rights campaigners described as a coordinated crackdown on activists before the Olympics.
Hu's wife, Zeng Jinyan, welcomed the award as a sign that Europe was paying attention to human rights in China and was concerned about her husband's case.
Zeng, who has also been under house arrest, along with the couple's baby, told the Guardian: "It is also a [sign of] approval of his work. I guess he must be very glad if he knows about it."
But she said the family's situation was improving and that she was able to go out comparatively freely. She visited Hu yesterday and guards allowed him to hold their child for the first time. Supporters have been concerned about Hu's health because he suffers from liver disease.
There have been some signs recently of the authorities relaxing strict controls on dissidents now the Olympics are over.
But in a letter to Poettering last week, China's ambassador to the EU wrote: "If the European parliament should award this prize to Hu Jia, that would inevitably hurt the Chinese people once again and bring serious damage to China-EU relations."
Qin Gang, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, told a press conference in Beijing: "To issue an award to such a criminal is interference in China's judicial sovereignty and totally against the initial purpose of this prize".""Hu Jia, one of China's best-known dissidents, was yesterday awarded an EU... more
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One of China's most prominent human rights activists, Hu Jia, has won the European Parliament's prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
Mr Hu, a democracy, environment and Aids activist, is serving a jail term for inciting subversion of state power.
The parliament's president said Mr Hu was "one of the real defenders of human rights" in China, and that the award would support Chinese activists.
Mr Hu is credited with chronicling instances of abuse and alerting both fellow Chinese human rights activists and foreign news organisations.
He was convicted last April of inciting subversion, and is now serving a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence. His wife, Zeng Jinyan, is under effective house arrest.
In a letter sent to the president of EU assembly earlier this week, China's ambassador to the EU, Song Zhe, said giving the award to Mr Hu would "inevitably hurt the Chinese people once again and bring serious damage to China-EU relations".
"Not recognising China's progress on human rights and insisting on confrontation will only deepen the misunderstanding between the two sides and is not conducive to the promotion of the cause of world human rights," he said.
Mr Hu was also tipped as a possible winner of the Nobel Peace Prize this year, prompting Beijing to issue a veiled warning that the prize should go to the "right person".
One of China's most prominent human rights activists, Hu Jia, has won the... more
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Zeng Jinyan, wife of imprisoned Chinese AIDS rights activist Hu Jia, is currently under the surveillance of Chinese authorities and unable to contact outside media. It is believed that authorities may have also transported Zeng out of Beijing during the Olympics.
On August 25, Boxun.net reported that authorities took Zeng Jinyan to Dalian City after she visited her husband at the Chaobai prison near Tianjin City on August 7. Zeng was not allowed to return to Beijing until August 23. According to Hu Jia’s mother, Feng Juan, Zeng is under surveillance and unable to accept interviews.
Feng Juan told Radio Free Asia that Zeng was not in Beijing during the Olympics, but she did not know the details of her whereabouts at that time. Regarding the details of Zeng’s current situation, Feng said, “We live in mainland China, so it is not convenient for us to talk about these things.”
Hu was sentenced to three and half years imprisonment in March. His family is allowed one visit a month, but authorities forbid the family from bringing him food and medicine. Feng said, “He still looks very thin…the prison doesn’t allow us to send [him] medicine. The medicine from the prison hospital doesn’t include antiviral agents.”
Feng also said that the prison officials screen all incoming letters and only deliver the letters that meet their guidelines to the prisoners. When Zeng sent Hu a copy of International Convention on Human Rights and Protection of Chinese Prisoners’ Human Rights, the book was confiscated by prison officials and returned to the family.
Boxun.net also reports that the spokesperson from Chaobai prison’s public relations office said that Hu recently caused trouble by objecting to the prison’s decision to put some inmates on trial. Hu believed the officials’ actions violated prisoner rights. He publicized his criticism to the prison staff and other prisoners. As a result, the prison ordered Hu to seven hours of daytime yard work every day as punishment.
According to an open letter written by Zeng, Hu usually writes letters to his family once a week. However, no one has received a letter from him since August 1.Zeng Jinyan, wife of imprisoned Chinese AIDS rights activist Hu Jia, is currently... more
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