2008 Woodie Awards
Chinese activist arrested
Arrest is another sign that China is quashing dissent before Olympics
Tim Johnson
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: News
Like many patriotic Chinese, Hu Jia broke into tears when Beijing lost out to Sydney, Australia for the right to host the 2000 Olympic Games, and was elated a year later when the city captured this year's Summer Games. But the Olympic Games are proving anything but a boon for people such as Hu.
A Beijing court Thursday sentenced Hu, 34, a prominent activist, to a prison term of 3 years for posting five essays on overseas Web sites and for speaking to foreign reporters.
"Hu Jia is a person with a strong sense of national pride," his wife, Zeng Jinyan, said bitterly outside their apartment complex as a phalanx of police officers kept an eye on her every move. Tearstains streaked her face.
The verdict against Hu is the latest sign that Chinese officials see the run-up to the Olympic Games as a dangerous period in which any outcry should be dealt with harshly to discourage further dissent, a U.S. rights campaigner said.
"They are afraid of encouraging other protesters, other acts of protest," said John T. Kamm, the executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based advocacy group that seeks the release of political prisoners in China, which it thinks may number around 30,000.
Beijing's First Intermediate People's Court convicted Hu of "inciting subversion of state power," a catchall charge against enemies of the state. The official news agency Xinhua said Hu spread "malicious rumors and committed libel" and instigated people to overthrow China's socialist system.
His conviction drew an international outcry from some, who think that China put Hu in prison to silence him ahead of the Olympic Games he longed to witness.
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement condemning the "specious charge" against Hu, saying that his work "should be applauded, not suppressed." Amnesty International called it a "blatant perversion of justice," and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it was appalled. The European Union had warned China not to convict Hu.
A Beijing court Thursday sentenced Hu, 34, a prominent activist, to a prison term of 3 years for posting five essays on overseas Web sites and for speaking to foreign reporters.
"Hu Jia is a person with a strong sense of national pride," his wife, Zeng Jinyan, said bitterly outside their apartment complex as a phalanx of police officers kept an eye on her every move. Tearstains streaked her face.
The verdict against Hu is the latest sign that Chinese officials see the run-up to the Olympic Games as a dangerous period in which any outcry should be dealt with harshly to discourage further dissent, a U.S. rights campaigner said.
"They are afraid of encouraging other protesters, other acts of protest," said John T. Kamm, the executive director of the Dui Hua Foundation, a San Francisco-based advocacy group that seeks the release of political prisoners in China, which it thinks may number around 30,000.
Beijing's First Intermediate People's Court convicted Hu of "inciting subversion of state power," a catchall charge against enemies of the state. The official news agency Xinhua said Hu spread "malicious rumors and committed libel" and instigated people to overthrow China's socialist system.
His conviction drew an international outcry from some, who think that China put Hu in prison to silence him ahead of the Olympic Games he longed to witness.
The U.S. Embassy issued a statement condemning the "specious charge" against Hu, saying that his work "should be applauded, not suppressed." Amnesty International called it a "blatant perversion of justice," and Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it was appalled. The European Union had warned China not to convict Hu.
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