Jail Term for Chinese AIDS Activist Hu Jia Ends Sunday
- 13 years ago
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Yet another Chinese dissident is being set free this weekend. AIDS activist Hu Jia will finish his three-year prison sentence on Sunday, closely following the release of detained artist activist Ai Wei Wei. His wife and fellow activist Zeng Jinyan isn't optimistic about her husband's freedom once released.
Zeng Jinyan is awaiting the release of her AIDS activist husband after three and a half years in a Chinese prison.
Hu Jia's jail term ends on Sunday.
Zeng, also an AIDS activist, says she's looking forward to his anticipated release, but fears their chances of returning to ordinary life are slim.
[Zeng Jinyan, Hu Jia's Wife]:
"If were living in a country with a sound legal system, when Hu Jia comes home we would still be able to live and work normally even though he would be deprived of political rights for a year. But lately I feel the political atmosphere is dark. The political space and social environment is very hostile towards NGO workers and human rights activists. So I'm very worried. We might be placed under house arrest or Hu Jia will be arrested again."
Hu, seen here in file footage, was arrested in 2008.
His crime was exposing the spread of HIV among Chinese peasants during the 1990s, when poor farmers sold their blood for money.
He was sentenced for what the courts said was inciting subversion of state power... a charge often used by authorities to stop dissidents from speaking out.
If he's released on time, Hu will leave prison in the midst of a clampdown by Chinese authorities on its critics, a campaign that's seen activists, artists and lawyers detained, often without charge.
Yet another Chinese dissident is being set free this weekend. AIDS activist Hu Jia will finish his three-year prison sentence on Sunday, closely following the release of detained artist activist Ai Wei Wei. His wife and fellow activist Zeng Jinyan isn't optimistic about her husband's freedom once released.
Zeng Jinyan is awaiting the release of her AIDS activist husband after three and a half years in a Chinese prison.
Hu Jia's jail term ends on Sunday.
Zeng, also an AIDS activist, says she's looking forward to his anticipated release, but fears their chances of returning to ordinary life are slim.
[Zeng Jinyan, Hu Jia's Wife]:
"If were living in a country with a sound legal system, when Hu Jia comes home we would still be able to live and work normally even though he would be deprived of political rights for a year. But lately I feel the political atmosphere is dark. The political space and social environment is very hostile towards NGO workers and human rights activists. So I'm very worried. We might be placed under house arrest or Hu Jia will be arrested again."
Hu, seen here in file footage, was arrested in 2008.
His crime was exposing the spread of HIV among Chinese peasants during the 1990s, when poor farmers sold their blood for money.
He was sentenced for what the courts said was inciting subversion of state power... a charge often used by authorities to stop dissidents from speaking out.
If he's released on time, Hu will leave prison in the midst of a clampdown by Chinese authorities on its critics, a campaign that's seen activists, artists and lawyers detained, often without charge.