The awarding of the European Parliament’s 2008 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to the jailed Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia underscores the urgent need for rights reforms in China, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch reiterated its long-standing call for the release of Hu, who was sentenced last April to three and half years in prison for “incitement to subvert state power,” a charge regularly levelled against critics and dissidents in China.
The European Parliament has described Hu Jia as a “leading symbol of China's human rights problems… He represents all the other Chinese and Tibetan citizens who are repressed: lawyers, journalists, petitioners, human rights activists, writers and cyber-dissidents.” The award ceremony is to take place in Strasbourg on December 17.
“Awarding the Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights sends a powerful message to the Chinese government,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “Beijing pledged to improve human rights and to show the world a ‘harmonious society’ during the Olympics, but instead silenced and locked up peaceful rights defenders.”