More human rights oppression!

Hu Jia, a persistent human rights campaigner in custody since December, was convicted Thursday of subverting the Chinese government through his online writings and sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison, his lawyer announced.

The conviction, widely expected since Hu's 3 1/2 -hour trial March 18, was denounced by the human rights group Amnesty International as a betrayal of China's commitments in winning the role as host of the 2008 Summer Olympics in August.

"The manipulations that led to this guilty verdict are a blatant perversion of justice," T. Kumar, Amnesty's Asia advocacy director, said in a statement. "It is deeply disturbing that officials would so openly turn their backs on commitments to improve human rights in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics. Hu Jia must be released immediately and unconditionally."

Writing and speaking on political topics is a human right long recognized by the United nations. China has promised to improve its human rights policies, but has notoriously failed to do so. So while I agree with T. Kumar's statement above, I know that won't happen -- and so again repeat my call for the IOC to simply cancel the 2008 Games as a show of support for human rights and as a way of avoiding an abuse of the Games similar to what happened with the Berlin Olympics in 1936.

Posted by: Greg at 10:23 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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