Arrest of human rights activist shows China’s determination to suppress protests Commentary
Arrest of human rights activist shows China’s determination to suppress protests
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John Kamm [Executive Director, The Dui Hua Foundation] "The detention of Hu Jia on December 27, 2007 for "incitement to subversion" is the most important move against the small but increasingly defiant community of human rights defenders and dissidents in China in recent months. We do not know the specifics of what he is suspected of, and are unlikely to know the basics of the charges until, at the earliest, a prosecutor formally approves an arrest order, an event likely to happen in late January, roughly two weeks before the onset of Spring Festival. That will set in motion a period of police investigation (commencing in earnest after the long holiday) that will almost certainly conclude with Hu's trial and conviction later in 2008. All this will be going on in Beijing as the city readies itself to host the Olympics in August. With a reckless disdain for world opinion, Beijing has just taken a big step that will help insure that human rights are a principal focus of the games.

Hu has been a force of nature, an outspoken activist in a high profile area (HIV/AIDS) with excellent contacts both among China's fledgling human rights community and foreign journalists. Because he was involved in so many confrontations with the authorities — and because of his daring video protest at his own (and his wife's) treatment at the hands of the political police — it is not possible to guess what the tipping point was that led to his detention.

One possibility is Hu's participation in a European Parliament meeting on China's human rights situation held in Brussels in late November. The EU Parliament invited 11 Chinese representatives to attend, but the Chinese government refused to give them visas. Hu went ahead and attended by means of video phone linkup to his apartment in Beijing, where he and his wife have been under house arrest. His remarks, as reported by the Interpress Service, were highly critical of China's human rights record as well as aspects of its preparation for the Olympics. There have been several other recent detentions and arrests of individuals who have voiced opposition to the Olympics including that of the petitioner Yang Chunlin ("We want human rights, not the Olympics.")

Dui Hua recently published national statistics that showed that arrests for endangering state security doubled in 2006 over 2005. Hu Jia's detention, happening at the end of 2007, will not show up as an arrest statistic until the numbers for 2008 are released in late 2009. It nevertheless illustrates in the starkest of terms the determination of China's leaders to suppress all forms of protest and non-violent dissent. It remains to be seen whether the international community will do anything other than issuing strong statements of disapproval."

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