Imprisoned activist Hua Jia’s life in danger

ICC Note:

Human rights groups are worried about the serious deterioration of the health of Hua Jia, a well known rights activist who was arrested in China in December of 2007. He was sentenced in April to three years and six months in prison. His wife and ten-month-old daughter are under house arrest.

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10/2/08 China (AsiaNews) There has been serious deterioration in the health of Hu Jia, a human rights activist arrested in December of 2007, and sentenced last April to three years and six months in prison for criticizing the government. The NGO Human Rights Watch denounces that, in prison, Hu’s life is in danger. The group is also calling for an end to the close surveillance of his wife, Zeng Jinan, under house arrest for months together with her infant daughter, Qianchi.

Hu, 34, is known in the country for his battles on behalf of people sick with AIDS. He has always fought for the democratic development of China, for absolute religious freedom, and for a review of the situation in Tibet, which “should be free to decide its future”.

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Hu suffers from cirrhosis of the liver due to chronic hepatitis B. His wife Zeng has documented on her blog the worsening of his health in prison, but prison authorities have repeatedly denied him medical care at a specialized center. Most recently, on September 16, they replied to Zeng that her husband cannot receive permission for medical leave because “he is disobedient”, he refuses to be “calm”, and he violates prison rules. HRW Is calling for Hu’s immediate release, or at least that he be taken where he can receive the necessary medical care.

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Zeng has been under house arrest since May 18, 2007, together with her 10-month-old daughter, subjected to tight police surveillance. HRW says that In China, house arrest is used outside of the law, and without sentencing. On August 7, 2008, one day before the opening of the Olympics, she was taken by force and without the chance to tell anyone to the coastal city of Dalian, where she remained until August 23, the day before the end of the Olympics. “For 16 days”, she later wrote in her blog, “I was cut off from contact with the world. Only officials in police uniforms in the courtyard”.

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