Hu Jia wins prestigious award

BEIJING – The awarding of a European human rights prize to jailed Chinese activist Hu Jia yesterday is welcome foreign recognition of his and other dissidents’ work, his wife and other activists said.

“I think Hu Jia would be very happy because his work has now received everyone’s validation,” Zeng Jinyan, Hu’s wife, told AFP by telephone. The European Parliament awarded the prestigious Sakharov prize to Hu, 35, for his years of work highlighting human rights abuses in communist-ruled China.The award was given despite China warning that giving Hu the prize could damage ties with Europe, and came one day ahead of a major summit in Beijing between Asia and Europe.Hu was jailed in April for three and a half years on subversion, and Zeng has complained he is suffering from ill health in prison due to liver cirrhosis and anaemia.Zeng, 25, who is being held under a loose form of house arrest along with their 11-month-old daughter, expressed hope that the award could improve his situation.”I have always felt that support for Hu Jia will be helpful to him in the long term,” she told AFP.The thin, bespectacled Hu has become China’s best-known rights campaigner over the years, highlighting government abuses, environmental degradation and the plight of China’s AIDS sufferers through blogs and email.He was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize this month, causing some dissidents to express dismay that one of their community still had not won the award.But they expressed hope that the Sakharov prize could provide much needed support for the human rights cause in China.”It’s hard to say at this point what sort of impact this would have on human rights in China but I do think it will be positive,” said Qi Zhiyong, a longtime dissident who lost a leg after being shot during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.”It will help to promote the protection of human rights in China.This is a good thing for China’s people.”Dissident journalist Dai Qing said the award showed the world was not cowed by China’s growing clout into ignoring rights abuses.”This shows the outside world cares deeply about human rights in China and is at least willing to express moral support for people like Hu Jia,” she said.Nampa-AFPThe European Parliament awarded the prestigious Sakharov prize to Hu, 35, for his years of work highlighting human rights abuses in communist-ruled China.The award was given despite China warning that giving Hu the prize could damage ties with Europe, and came one day ahead of a major summit in Beijing between Asia and Europe.Hu was jailed in April for three and a half years on subversion, and Zeng has complained he is suffering from ill health in prison due to liver cirrhosis and anaemia.Zeng, 25, who is being held under a loose form of house arrest along with their 11-month-old daughter, expressed hope that the award could improve his situation.”I have always felt that support for Hu Jia will be helpful to him in the long term,” she told AFP.The thin, bespectacled Hu has become China’s best-known rights campaigner over the years, highlighting government abuses, environmental degradation and the plight of China’s AIDS sufferers through blogs and email.He was passed over for the Nobel Peace Prize this month, causing some dissidents to express dismay that one of their community still had not won the award.But they expressed hope that the Sakharov prize could provide much needed support for the human rights cause in China.”It’s hard to say at this point what sort of impact this would have on human rights in China but I do think it will be positive,” said Qi Zhiyong, a longtime dissident who lost a leg after being shot during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.”It will help to promote the protection of human rights in China.This is a good thing for China’s people.”Dissident journalist Dai Qing said the award showed the world was not cowed by China’s growing clout into ignoring rights abuses.”This shows the outside world cares deeply about human rights in China and is at least willing to express moral support for people like Hu Jia,” she said.Nampa-AFP