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It’s been difficult to keep up with thousands of media reports published this week about the 20th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Many new videos were created as well. Here is a sample of them.
Zeng Jinyan, the wife of imprisoned activist Hu Jia, was prevented from leaving her home this week. She did not have any planned activity for the Tiananmen anniversary. She was only going to go to her mother’s birthday celebration and the police forced her and her daughter back into their apartment. She became very upset after that incident. Reuters had a phone interview with her about it:
The award ceremony of the 2008 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was held at a plenary session of the European Parliament earlier today. Hu Jia was announced to be the winner of the prize about two months ago. While Hu is in prison, his wife Zeng Jinyan is under house arrest with her passport confiscated by the authorities so she cannot travel to Europe to receive the prize on Hu’s behalf. Nevertheless, Zeng sent a video message to the European Parliament and it was shown at the award ceremony. She also posted a written acceptance speech in Chinese and English on her blog.
Related news and links:
- European Parliament: Sakharov human rights prize awarded to China’s Hu Jia
- Eurinfo (weekly TV program of the European Parliament): 2008 Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia (requires Windows Media Player)
- Amnesty International: Standing ovation for jailed Chinese dissident
- Reporters Without Borders: Hu Jia’s wife sends message of “hope for an open China” to European parliament
- BBC News: China dissident wins rights prize
- Associated Press: EU honors Chinese dissident Hu Jia in absentia
- AFP: EU assembly awards prize in absentia to Chinese dissident
Update (12-18-2008):
- EUbusiness: China dissident has prison visits cancelled after EU award: wife
- Associated Press: Visits to jailed China activist curbed after award
Amnesty International Press Statement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Amnesty International Reiterates Call for China to Release Activist Hu Jia
Now Recipient of European Parliament’s Human Rights Award
Contact: AIUSA media office, 202-544-0200 x302, lspann@aiusa.org
(Washington) – The awarding of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is a significant acknowledgment of the work of Hu Jia, said Amnesty International as the prize was announced today by the European Parliament.
The organization, which has worked with Hu Jia and his family in campaigning for human rights in China, repeated its call on the Chinese authorities to release him from prison immediately and stop the harassment of his wife Zeng Jinyan and the couple’s 11-month-old daughter.
The award highlights the work of all activists in China who stand up against human rights abuses.
Background
Hu Jia is one of China’s best-known environmental and human rights activists. He was one of the founders of the Beijing-based HIV/AIDS nongovernmental organization Loving Source, a grassroots organization dedicated to helping children from AIDS families. Together with his wife, Zeng Jinyan, he regularly informed overseas journalists and human rights organizations of abuses taking place in China.
Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on April 3, 2008 for “inciting subversion.” Amnesty International considers Hu Jia a prisoner of conscience and has demanded his immediate and unconditional release.
Hu Jia is serving his sentence in Beijing City prison. His family is concerned that he is not receiving adequate treatment in prison for his liver disease but the authorities rejected an application for his release on medical parole. Zeng Jinyan and the couple’s daughter remain under tight police surveillance with officers stationed outside their home, limiting their visitors and following them when they go out. For the duration of the Olympic Games, they were moved outside Beijing.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
# # #
Related news and links:
- Reporters Without Borders: Award of European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia hailed as “great victory for Chinese prisoners of conscience”
- Human Rights in China: HRIC Congratulates Hu Jia, Recipient of 2008 Sakharov Prize
- Radio Free Asia: Jailed Chinese Dissident Wins EU Prize
- BBC News: Hu Jia wins European rights prize
- New York Times: Chinese Activist Wins Rights Prize
- The Guardian: A life of purity and dignity
A few hours ago, Zeng Jinyan posted a tweet that said, “The situation is more intense than before the Olympics.” I am guessing this might be due to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement happening this Friday in which Zeng’s husband, human rights activist Hu Jia is rumored to be awarded. Today, the BBC News reported that self-taught lawyer Gao Zhisheng is also on the hot list for the award. No wonder some people are getting nervous.
At today’s press conference of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (transcript in Chinese), a reporter asked about the Nobel Prize announcements that began with the Medicine category yesterday without referring to any names of potential prize winners. The Ministry’s spokesperson responded that some of the judging of the Nobel Prizes violated the original intention of Mr. Alfred Nobel for world peace and the advancement of human kind.
The build up to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement is definitely picking up heat.
At a press conference yesterday, the director of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee announced there will be parks designated for demonstrations in response to a reporter’s question. But it is not a free for all. Anyone who wants to protest has to apply for permission. I am curious to know who would dare to apply to protest.
Almost four years ago, housing rights activist Ye Guozhu applied for permission to protest against forced eviction to make way for the Olympics. What happened to him next? He was detained, charged and sentenced to 4 years in prison. He is due to be released in less than a week. But the police plugged him out of prison, told his family not to go to prison to pick him up, and relocated him to an unknown location. They said he is being kept out of sight to keep his family out of trouble during the Olympics and he won’t go home until after October 1.
Would others get the same experience if they apply to demonstrate during the Olympics? I am thinking if they don’t get arrested during the Games, the police would catch up with them when the festivities are over. Besides, the official was not completely open about the protest parks. The names of the parks were blurted out at the press conference and they were not included in the official transcript. The foreign journalists caught the names as much as they could for their reporting. As for the press in China, a quick search yielded a detailed English reporting in the online version of the Shanghai Daily. I wonder if there is any similar reports appearing in Chinese online, in a newspaper or on TV/radio so that ordinary citizens in China would hear about it.
In recent weeks, the protests in Tibet has led to a show down between pro-Tibet and pro-China people when the Olympic torch relay stops in London, Paris and San Francisco were disrupted. Away from the torch relay, similar protests took place in Seattle last week during the Seeds of Compassion gathering where the Dalai Lama was the main speaker, and most significantly at Duke University. In the eyes of a human rights activist, I embrace the fact that the two sides have their opportunity to voice their opinions in public. This kind of public exercise of freedom of expression is not likely to be seen in China.
But the protest at Duke turned sour quickly after Chinese student Grace Wang (Wang Qianyuan) attempted to promote a dialogue between the two sides. The pro-China students accused her of promoting Tibet’s independence which she is definitely not doing. Since the protest, Wang received threatening phone calls and emails (see reporting in Duke’s independent daily newspaper The Chronicle and the blog section of national publication US News). Her parents’ home in China was vandalized. There was also a fake apology letter from someone who pretended to write as her father. As Wang’s personal safety got compromised by Web 2.0 through internet posting of her personal information, the firestorm continues through comments on the two articles of The Chronicle (over 500 submissions for the one published on April 14th and another 300+ of them directed to the April 16th piece) and the additional verbal abuse towards Wang on an online forum in China.
Wang is not the only one being called a traitor these days. Chang Ping, an editor of the Southern Metropolis Weekly in China questioned the reporting of the protests in Lhasa by both western and Chinese media in an essay, titled “Where does the truth about Lhasa come from?” (check out the translated version and the original Chinese version). He pointed out that while many Chinese internet users questioned the objectivity of western media reports on Tibet, they do not question their own media in China. He further raised the danger of state-controlled media:
If the netizens genuinely care about news values, they should not only be exposing the fake reports by the western media and they should also be challenging the control by the Chinese government over news sources and the Chinese media. There is no doubt that the harm from the latter is even worse than the former. When individual media outlets make fake reports about real events, it is easy to correct because just a few meticulous Chinese netizens can do the job. When media control is exercised by the state authorities, the whole world is helpless.
Chang’s essay snowballed into another online debate in China and more name calling ensued. While Wang called for an open dialogue over Tibet and Chang was calling for press freedom, they were both called a traitor. Is it unpatriotic to criticize your country? I see it as the other way around. Only those who care less about the actions of their leaders turn a blind eye and go about business as usual, or the other reason might be that they know the consequences of speaking up are too much to take the risk. Those who raise their voices over the shortcomings of their country are just as patriotic as those who defend their country at all times.
As Beijing based BBC journalist Paul Danahar explained the fallout of reporting on Tibet, he posted the famous quote of the 16th century satirist Pietro Aretino:
I love you, and because I love you, I would sooner have you hate me for telling you the truth than adore me for telling you lies.
It has been a busy couple of days at AIUSA. First, another issue of the Olympics countdown report came out yesterday. The media staff wrote a press release last Friday and I had little time to do some edits. And then this afternoon, we were anticipating for Hu Jia’s trial verdict to come out tonight so we had another round of press release work. A few hours ago, a staff called to let me know Hu Jia got sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison.
It is a sad day for human rights. All Hu Jia had done was speaking his mind and helped others who couldn’t speak for themselves by letting their experience and thoughts be known around the world. He is probably the first person to use the Internet and technology in China extensively for advocacy work. The tools of the trade for him and his wife Zeng Jinyan are blogs, cellphones, photos, videos, and audio recordings. There are as much materials produced by the couple themselves as there are news articles about them. They have demonstrated that Web 2.0 is great for getting the word out about your cause but at the same time, user generated content can become the road to imprisonment in some countries.
One day before the verdict was released, Zeng published a post on her blog detailing Hu Jia’s off and on detention and house arrest in the last four years. She marked April 3, 2004 as the first day of his informal imprisonment. On the 4th anniversary of the start of his gradual loss of freedom, Hu Jia was finally sentenced to prison. I am not surprised but I am saddened. I don’t think we have seen the worst of it in the run-up to the Olympics. I suspect there will be more arrests and detention. This year’s Olympics will sure go down in history as the most controversial one ever.
Related news and links:
- BBC News: Olympics ‘worsening China rights’
- Global Voices Advocacy: China: Hu Jia to be sentenced today
- The China Blog: Activist Hu Jia Gets Three and a Half Years
- Washington Post: Subversion Conviction – Chinese Rights Advocate Gets 3 1/2-Year Prison Term
- BBC News: Jail for Chinese rights activist
Update (4-3-2008): The AI Urgent Action for the couple has been updated to reflect the prison sentence. Meanwhile, here are more news and reactions about the verdict and the AI report.
- Voice of America: IOC Rejects Amnesty Report on China’s Human Rights Record
- AIUSA: Hu Jia Verdict a ‘Blatant Perversion of Justice,’ Charges Amnesty International, Demanding Activist’s Release
- AI: Hu Jia jailed for three and a half years (include link to online action)
- Human Rights in China: Statement – HRIC Denounces Conviction of Prominent Activist Hu Jia
- HRIC: “The Real Situation in Pre-Olympics China” (English translation of article written by Teng Biao and Hu Jia on human rights in the lead-up to the Olympics – this article was mentioned in the charges against Hu Jia)
- Voice of America: Chinese Court Sentences Civil Rights Activist to Jail
- Voice of America: US Dismayed Over Sentencing of Chinese Dissident
- Radio Free Asia: Chinese Activist Hu Jia Jailed for Subversion
- Associated Press: China Sentences Rights Activist to Jail
- New York Times: Chinese Rights Activist Is Jailed
Zeng Jinyan (L), wife of activist Hu Jia, walked next to
Hu’s mother after he was sentenced to prison
Source: The Christian Science Monitor
I took a glance at the AI website today and learned that the director of AI-Nepal, Rameshwar Nepal was arrested. He was part of a group of activists that were getting ready for a vigil on Tibet. I’ve been part of AI for almost a decade and have never heard of any section director getting arrested. Meanwhile, Tibetan protests carry on in China. There was also a brief incident at the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece when a protester from Reporters Without Borders waving a black flag ran up behind Liu Qi, head of the Beijing Olympic organizing committee as Liu was giving a speech.
Related links:
- AI: Nepal: Clampdown on Tibet demonstrators must stop immediately and protesters released
- AI: Hundreds of Tibet protesters arrested in Nepal
Update: Below is copied from AI-Nepal’s website.
Human Rights Defenders Arrested while trying to stage a peaceful demonstration
Human Rights Defenders including officials of Amnesty International (AI) Nepal got arrested ahead of staging a peaceful vigil on 24 March in Kathmandu. The arrest has violated the rights including freedom of assembly peacefully guaranteed by the Constitution of Nepal as well as several other laws.
AI Nepal had planned a peaceful demonstration on 24 March at Maitighar Mandala in Kathmandu to call an end of current human rights crisis in Tibet. Human rights defenders including those invited and arrived to attend the demonstration were arrested before they started their planned program. Former Member of National Human Rights Commission Sushil Pyakurel, Former Chairperson of AI Nepal Charan Prasai, General Secretary Chandra Adhikari, National Executive Committee Members Keshab Sigdel and Deepar Rajbhandari, Director Rameshwar Nepal, Human Rights Defenders Govinda Bandi, Shobhakar Budhathoki and Deependra Jha, Convener of AI Nepal Group 80 Surya Bahadur Adhikari, Staff Members of AI Nepal Pralhad Basnet and Jannath Acharya were arrested before the program started and were taken to Singha Durbar police station. All the 12 named above and 5 Tibetan demonstrators arrested later from the same place were release later on the same day. The move by the District Administration to prevent a peaceful demonstration from taking place is against Article 12 of the Constitution of Nepal. There are also no legal grounds to pre-ban demonstrations.
It was reported that about one hundred fifty Tibetans were arrested. The event was monitored by the National Human Rights Commission and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). Richard Bennet, the Chief of the OHCHR Nepal visited Singha Durbar police station and met the human rights defenders detained there.
Amnesty International reiterated its call for the Chinese government to allow an independent UN investigation into the events in Tibet which prompted demonstrations in Nepal. It also called on the Chinese government to address the underlying grievances of the Tibetan people and long-term policies that have generated such resentment.
Amnesty International is seriously concern over the arrest which has violets the right to assembly and freedom of expression.
