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UPDATE CHINA: Hu Jia awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression
October 24, 2008
Hu Jia, leading activist and dissident writer, who at present is serving a three-and a half prison sentence in China, has won the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Expression granted by the European Parliament. It has been reported that the Chinese authorities have criticized this award because it interferes in its internal affairs.
Hu Jia, is a main-case of International PEN.
You can read the BBC report on the award by following this link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7686026.stm
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Hu Jia, Leading Activist and Dissedent Writer
HU Jia was arrested 27 December 2007. He has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Reportedly arrested from his home by the
Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau on “suspicion of incitement to subvert state power” for his critical writings and activism. HE has been transferred to the Chaobai Prison, Hangu District, Tianjin City on 8 May 2008. During his trial in April 2008, Hu Jia was convicted of ‘inciting subversion of state power’ for his critical online writings and dissident activities, after being tried on 18 March 2008 at the Beijing Municipal No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court. According to his lawyer, evidence presented against him in court included five articles published on banned overseas Chinese websites and two interviews given to the foreign media. He is also believed to be targeted for an open letter he signed, “The Real China Before the Olympics,” which demanded an end to human rights abuses in the run-up to the Olympic Games to be held in Beijing in August 2008. Hu Jia suffers from long-term health problems including cirrhosis of the liver, and there are fears that his condition could seriously deteriorate in prison. In June 2008 the family reported that Hu Jia’s health was deteriorating in prison and that he had been denied access to specialist medial care. Hu Jia’s family have also been subjected to harassment and severe restrictions of movement since his arrest, and there are serious concerns for his wife Zeng Jingyan, who had a one-month-old baby at the time of Hu’s arrest and is herself under effective house arrest. Hu’s arrest appears to be part of a crackdown on dissidents in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. It was reported that Hu Jia’ family had not been allowed to visit him since early May 2008. Hu is known for his activities on environmental and AIDS issues, and had been briefly detained in February 2006.
On the Sakharov Prize
Since 1988, in the spirit of Andrei Sakharov, the European Parliament has awarded the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in order to honour individuals or organisations for their efforts on behalf of human rights and fundamental freedoms and against oppression and injustice.
From Gorky, where he was living in exile, Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), the renowned physicist, member of the Academy of Sciences, dissident and 1975 Nobel Peace Prize winner, sent a message to the European Parliament saying how moved he was that it intended to create a prize for freedom of thought which would bear his name. He rightly saw this as an encouragement to all those who, like him, had committed themselves to championing human rights.
Coming from a background in nuclear physics and ending as a dissident, he not only sought the release of dissenters in his country but also drew attention to the relationship between science and society and to the issues of peaceful coexistence and intellectual freedom, which he analysed in his writings. In the eyes of the world, Sakharov came to embody the crusade against the denial of fundamental rights. Neither intimidation nor exile could break his resistance.
In awarding the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament honours, in particular, outstanding achievements in the fight to protect freedom of thought and expression against intolerance, fanaticism and hatred. This reflects its conviction that fundamental freedoms include not only the right to life and physical integrity, but also freedom of expression and of the press, two of the most effective means of fighting oppression and key yardsticks by which to judge whether a society is democratic and open.
The right to untrammelled freedom of opinion and expression, which is enshrined in Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 16 December 1966 and which includes ‘the right to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or though any medium of [a person’s] choice’, reflects the spirit in which the European Parliament created the Sakharov Prize.
The European Parliament awards the human rights prize, endowed with EUR 50 000, at a formal sitting in Strasbourg which falls on or around 10 December, the day on which the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948.
from http://www.europarl.europa.eu/comparl/afet/droi/sakharov/inspiration_en.htm