Government urged to heed appeals for release of Hu Jia, who begins third month in detention

RSF China 26 February 2008

Government urged to heed appeals for release of Hu Jia, who begins third month in detention

Reporters Without Borders reiterates its call for the release of human rights activist Hu Jia, who will tomorrow begin his third month of detention by the Beijing public security bureau on a charge of inciting subversion of state authority, while his wife, Zeng Jinyan, and their baby girl, now three and a half months old, continue to be closely watched by the political police.

“Hu Jia’s arrest and indictment just a few months before the start of the Beijing Olympic Games was a blatant provocation that prompted a series of protests in China and abroad”, the press freedom organisation said.

“The Beijing authorities continue for the time being to turn a deaf ear to the calls for his release, but we hope the government will be forced to intercede on his behalf, as it already did for Ching Cheong and Yu Huafeng”, Reporters Without Borders added. “The release of all journalists and cyber-dissidents before the start of the Games is one of our demands”.

More than one thousand Internet users have already signed the petition for Hu’s release on the Reporters Without Borders website: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25197 [continues...]