BEIJING - Confined to house arrest for seven months, Chineseactivist Hu Jia still managed to use the Internet and telephone tochronicle the harassment of dissidents in his country before he washauled off to jail last December.
His conviction and sentencing on subversion charges Thursday isthe latest indication that China's leadership intends to clamp downhard on dissent ahead of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Hu, one of China's most prominent human rights advocates, wasgiven 3 1/2 years in prison for "inciting state subversion," saidhis lawyer, Li Fangping. The evidence against Hu included fiveInternet articles he wrote and two interviews he gave to foreignmedia, Li said.
The sentence, though lighter than the five years expected, "isstill unacceptable," Li said. Beijing routinely uses the charge ofsubversion to imprison dissidents for years.
A longtime critic of the government, Hu has been involved incivil liberties issues, from AIDS awareness to environmental rightsand Tibet. In recent years, while largely under house arrest, heserved as a hub linking activists across China with the outsideworld.
Last fall, Hu and activist lawyer Teng Biao authored an articleaccusing Beijing of failing to live up to a pledge made when biddingfor the Olympics that it would improve human rights.
Hu's case drew more scrutiny for the human rights record ofChina's government, which has been facing criticism over itscrackdown following widespread protests in Tibet and other parts ofwestern China.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Hu's conviction"deeply disturbing to the United States." Speaking while in Romania,she said putting Hu in jail was not in the interest of human rights -or of China.
The European Union wants Hu released immediately, said EUspokesman William Fingleton.
"We said clearly before the trial that he should not be detainedin the first place, and he should be released," Fingleton said.
A spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry insisted the case "hasbeen dealt with in accordance with law."
"We will not stop the implementation of law because of theOlympic Games," spokeswoman Jiang Yu said, adding that she hopedoutside groups would "not interfere with China's internal affairs bythe excuse of human rights."
In recent years, Hu had been a one-man clearinghouse for news onthe treatment of other dissidents. Using the Internet and the phone,he detailed the harassment and detention of fellow activists to aninternational network.
Hu had been under house arrest at his Beijing apartment for morethan 200 days before he was taken away by security agents Dec. 27.
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Looking Ahead
Olympics draw world's attention
The verdict against activist Hu Jia is the latest sign thatChinese officials see the run-up to the Olympic Games as a dangerousperiod in which any outcry should be dealt with harshly todiscourage further dissent, a U.S. rights campaigner said.
"They are afraid of encouraging other protesters, other acts ofprotest," said John T. Kamm, the executive director of the Dui HuaFoundation, a San Francisco-based advocacy group that seeks therelease of political prisoners in China, which it thinks may numberaround 30,000.
Kamm, who's spent nearly two decades working to release politicalprisoners in China, said China made 742 arrests last year forendangering state security.
Kamm said China's image was taking a drubbing abroad because ofhow it was dealing with unrest among ethnic Tibetans, but thatofficials had garnered vast support from citizens at home, many ofwhom see the unrest as instigated from abroad.
- McClatchy Newspapers
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