Hujia&jinyan’s spirit

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States is taking seriously reports that Chinese activists were subjected to a clampdown ahead of US-China talks this week on a range of human rights issues, a spokesman said Tuesday.
“We take these reports seriously. And we’re going to look into them,” said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.

McCormack was responding to reporters’ questions about information from the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), relayed to Washington through the US-based AIDS victim group Critical Path.

CHRD reportedly said that Chinese authorities placed numerous activists under increased surveillance ahead of talks in Beijing this week between US and Chinese officials, the first such dialogue on human rights since 2002.

Among the cases cited by Chinese activists was Zeng Jinyan, who is a blogger, activist and wife of jailed dissident Hu Jia. She reportedly was visited on Friday and Saturday by authorities who barred her from leaving the house.[continues...]

As has been previously mentioned Hu Jia was moved to Chao Bai prison in Tianjin on May 7th. Yesterday Jinyan said; “I have not seen him since he was transferred to prison on may 7, conditions in that prison are very bad. I am seriously worried about his health.” When asked if she was able to get in contact with him she replied that she could not.

The following translation prepared by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) of “Hu Jia’s Indictment,” issued by the Beijing Municipal People’s Procuratorate No. 1 Branch on March 7, 2008.

Far Eastern Economic Review May 2008

by Jerome A. Cohen and Eva Pil

On april 3, 2008, the Beijing Number One Intermediate People’s Court convicted Hu Jia, a 34-year-old Chinese commentator and activist, of the crime of “inciting subversion of state power” through publication of five articles and two interviews. It sentenced him to three and a half years in prison and subsequent deprivation of his political rights, including that of free expression, for another year. Although Mr. Hu’s case has remained virtually unknown to the Chinese people, by the time of sentencing it had become famous worldwide. When on April 17 foreign journalists asked Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu about it, she gave the standard mofa response to inquiries about political prosecutions: “The case was handled in accordance with Chinese law. China is a country under the rule of law, it abides by the law. No person is above the law and no one has a right to interfere with it.” rule of law, people inside as well as outside the country have reason to be afraid, so flawed was it in both process and substance. [Continues in pdf format]

Thanks to Kim
Radio Free Asia - On May 8, AIDS activist and human rights defender Hu Jia was transferred to Chaobai Prison in Tianjin to serve his sentence. His lawyer, Li Fangping, reports that he was only notified on May 14 that Hu had been transferred and did not know the reasoning behind it. A friend of Hu says that he is worried for Hu’s health, as he suffers from liver disease and may be required to work. Hu’s family, including his wife and daughter, are all in Beijing. On April 3, Hu was sentenced to three and a half years’ imprisonment and one year’s deprivation of his political rights. He stated in April that he would not challenge his verdict.

English PEN is deeply concerned by recent reports of the deteriorating health of imprisoned activist and dissident writer Hu Jia, who is serving a three-and-a-half year sentence for ‘inciting subversion of state power’ and one year’s denial of political rights (sentenced 3 April 200 for his critical writings of Chinese Government and dissident activities.

According to English PEN’s information, Hu Jia suffers from long-term health problems including cirrhosis of the liver, and his condition is said to be deteriorating in prison. His family reports that he has been denied access to specialist medical care, and that they have been denied the right to visit him since early May, when he was transferred to another prison. His current whereabouts are unknown. English PEN calls for Hu Jia to be given all necessary medical care as a matter of urgency, and seeks information on his whereabouts.[continues...]

From VOA News 8th May 2008
Amnesty International is stepping up its criticism of China’s human rights record as the opening of the summer Olympic Games approaches. With just three months to go before the opening ceremony, Amnesty said Thursday that China is intensifying its crackdown on human rights activists and those critical of the Beijing government. VOA correspondent Meredith Buel reports from Washington.

T. Kumar, the Advocacy Director for Asia at Amnesty International, told reporters during a teleconference that there has been a significant erosion of human rights in China as the beginning of the games approaches.

“It is only three months until the Olympic Games begin in Beijing and China’s human rights landscape remains as bleak as ever. In fact hosting the Olympic games has become a thinly veiled excuse to crackdown on freedom of expression and assembly,” he said.[continues...]

please :

http://www.hkja.org.hk/Host/hkja/UserFiles/File/other/petition_for_hujia.html

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pzRHSSkiyM78Cj5aVpwxjcQ

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-pardon9-2008may09,0,3028269.story

From NY Times

BEIJING — At a time when China is touting its Olympic mascots, stadiums and hospitality, a San Francisco-based human rights group has suggested that it add one more feature for the Games: the first “Olympic pardon” of political prisoners.

The Dui Hua Foundation made its appeal public Thursday, offering an approach it believes could help Beijing improve a reputation battered in recent months by its Tibet crackdown, Darfur policies and the protests dogging the global relay of the Olympic torch.[continues...]

A banner which reads “Release Hu Jia” is hung down from Chung King Mansion as the torch bearer passes by during the Olympic torch relay in Hong Kong May 2, 2008. Chinese dissident Hu Jia, who had been critical of the games and published an essay called “The Real China and the Olympics”, was jailed in early April. REUTERS/Bobby Yip (CHINA)