China Sentences Human Rights Activist Hu Jia
By Daniel Hollingsworth
April 3, 2008 | Printer Friendly

The BBC reports that leading Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system.”  Representatives for the United States and European Union immediately criticized the sentence, and the European Union called for Hu’s immediate release.

The New York Times writes that ‘In recent years, [Hu] has maintained regular contacts with dissidents and other advocates on issues ranging from environmental protection and legal reform. He has also served as a one-man clearinghouse of information about peasant protests and dissidents, subjects that are often censored in the Chinese media.”  His arrest in December 2007 was based on a number of essays in which he was critical of the Communist Party in China, describing accounts of torture and other human rights violations.  He has also explicitly argued for democracy in China, citing Hong Kong’s system as one that should be instituted throughout the country.

The sentencing comes just a day after Amnesty International accused the Chinese government of carrying out a “wave of repression” ahead of the Beijing Summer Olympics.  “It was hoped that the Games would act as a catalyst for reform but much of the current wave of repression against activists and journalists is occurring not in spite of, but actually because of the Olympics.”

References:

BBC News: Jail for Chinese rights activists

New York Times: Prominent Chinese Rights Activist is Jailed

Amnesty International: What human rights legacy for the Beijing Olympics?