NewsBreakingOnline

Key figure in China’s dissident movement advocated broad range of civil liberties before being imprisoned in 2008 A prominent Chinese political activist who was imprisoned for sedition has been released at the end of his sentence, which lasted for more than three years, his wife has said. Hu Jia, a key figure in China’s dissident movement, advocated a broad range of civil liberties before being imprisoned in 2008. His freedom could be limited by continued surveillance. Hu returned home before dawn on Sunday, his wife, Zeng Jinyan, said in an online message. “Safe, very happy. Needs to recuperate for a period of time,” she wrote on Twitter. After visiting him on Monday at the Beijing municipal prison, she had said she would announce details of his release on Twitter. In a posting last week, she said that, upon his release, Hu – who suffers from a liver ailment – would be deprived of his political rights for a year and would not be able to speak to the media. “For this one year, the focus should be on treating his cirrhosis, caring for parents and child, to avoid being arrested again,” she wrote. Hu is known for his activism with Aids patients and orphans. The sedition charge arose from police accusations that the 37-year-old planned to work with foreigners to disturb the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His release comes amid one of the Chinese government’s broadest campaigns of repression in years as Beijing moves to prevent the growth of an Arab-style protest movement. The crackdown began in February. Like other dissidents released recently from jail, Hu may be kept under some sort of continued detention in his home, although such restrictions are illegal in China. There are concerns that extra-judicial tactics will be used against Hu, including illegally detaining him, the Human Rights Watch senior Asia researcher, Nicholas Bequelin, said. “Of course we are happy to have him be released – the problem is that we are not sure he is going to be released to freedom, but rather that he is going be again under some form of limitations to freedom, such as house arrest or monitoring and harassment by the authorities,” Bequelin said. Another activist, Chen Guangcheng, and his wife have been kept under an unofficial house arrest in their village in eastern China since he was released from prison during the autumn. Hu was freed several days after the outspoken artist Ai Weiwei was released after nearly three months in detention. He was one of the most prominent activists detained in the crackdown on dissent. The release coincided with the arrival of the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, in Britain for an Anglo-Chinese summit. Wen will travel to London for talks with the prime minister, David Cameron, at No 10 on Monday and a UK-China summit at which a number of business deals are expected to be signed. It is thought that pressure ahead of the visit may have helped secure Ai’s release, which removes a potentially awkward exchange from the talks. In late 2008, Hu won the European parliament’s Sakharov Prize human rights award. He was honoured in Strasbourg where, because he was in prison, his name was placed in front of an empty seat. China’s Communist government heaped scorn on the award, with Beijing calling Hu a criminal. Initially an advocate for the rights of HIV and Aids patients, Hu expanded his efforts after the government gave little ground and he began to see the country’s problems as rooted in authorities’ lack of respect for human rights. He used the internet and telephone to chronicle the harassment and arrests of other dissidents and also published a series of articles criticising the authorities for using the Olympics to mask serious human rights abuses. China Wen Jiabao guardian.co.uk