Chinese dissident Hu Jia is ‘freer, not free’ after prison release

Campaigner reunited with activist wife Zeng Jinyan but subject to attentions of police and security guards One of China’s leading dissidents has returned home after completing the three-and-a-half year prison sentence imposed for his human rights work and championing of Aids sufferers, his wife has said. Hu Jia, 37, was j ailed for “inciting subversion of state power” in internet articles and interviews with foreign reporters. Well-known for his environmental activism and for promoting the rights of Aids patients and Tibetans among others, he won the Sakharov human rights prize while in prison. Campaigners said he was “freer, not free” because of the strict conditions placed on him. He spent months confined to his home in Beijing even before his detention in 2008 and is assumed to be back under house arrest. “He is back home with his parents and me,” his wife, Zeng Jinyan, told Reuters in a brief telephone call on Sunday. “I don’t know if he can speak later. At the moment, I want everything to be peaceful. I’m worried that doing interviews at this stage might cause problems. Please understand.” In a Twitter message, she said he returned home at 2.30am on Sunday, adding: “Safe, very happy. Needs to recuperate for a period of time.” Hu’s mother, Feng Juan, told Reuters he was in a good mood but his health was “so so”. He has hepatitis B and his family fear he did not get adequate care in prison. News agencies reported that numerous police officers and security guards were patrolling the apartment complex where Hu and Zeng live in east Beijing. Hu’s release comes days after police allowed outspoken artist Ai Weiwei to return home on bail , following more than two months of detention. Four of Ai’s associates – his driver and cousin Zhang Jinsong, accountant Hu Mingfen, designer Liu Zhenggang and friend Wen Tao – have subsequently been released. Experts disagree as to whether Ai’s release was influenced by the Chinese premier’s visit to Europe. Wen Jiabao arrived in the UK on Saturday night and will meet David Cameron on Monday. Some believe the unusual attention attracted by Ai’s case, and the expectation that Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel would press Wen hard for his release, precipitated the decision. Others point to Ai’s silence since his release, suggesting authorities felt it safe to release him because he had agreed to comply. Human rights groups stress that they see no signs that China is pulling back from what is the most serious crackdown on activists and dissidents for a decade or more. “Hu is freer but he is not free. He has returned to a particularly strict form of house arrest,” said Nicholas Bequelin, Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. It is common for political prisoners to be prevented from giving interviews on release, but Bequelin said: “It is not only about talking to the media or carrying out activism, but whether he can go to a restaurant to celebrate with friends. He spends three and a half years in prison and comes home and cannot see his daughter.” Zeng left their young child with relatives rather than allow her to live under house arrest. “For this one year, the focus should be on treating his cirrhosis, caring for parents and child, to avoid being arrested again,” Zeng, who is also an activist, wrote in an online posting last week. Several people have been held incommunicado following their release from prison in the past year, including grassroots lawyer Chen Guangcheng. Last week, his wife reported he had been beaten unconscious after the release of a video he filmed detailing their situation. Her allegation came in a letter smuggled out of their home in Shandong, eastern China, and passed to a human rights organisation. Hu Jia China Protest Human rights Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk

Posted by on June 26, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.