Chinese Human Rights Activist Jailed

by Jarrett Martineau | April 2, 2008 at 07:30 pm | 198 views | add comment | 0 recommendations

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With each day that passes, and each new rights-related issue that arises, it is increasingly more difficult for China to dismiss claims that they are repressing dissent at every available opportunity.

The jailing of human rights activist Hu Jia is the second such conviction in the past month alone.

A prominent activist who publicised human rights abuses across China has been convicted of subversion and jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Hu Jia, 34, was convicted of "inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system", his lawyer said.

He has long campaigned for the environment, religious freedom and for the rights of people with HIV and Aids.

His sentence comes a day after a rights group accused China of a campaign to silence dissent ahead of the Olympics.

Mr Hu's conviction comes only two weeks after another activist, Yang Chunlin, was jailed on similar charges.
On Wednesday, UK-based rights group Amnesty International accused Beijing of carrying out a "wave of repression" ahead of the Olympic Games.

The authorities were targeting those who criticised the government in a bid to present a stable and harmonious image when the Games began in August, the group said.

In response, the China Society for Human Rights Studies accused Amnesty of bias and of ignoring positive developments in the country's human rights record.