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Pelosi Wants Bush to Weigh Skipping Olympic Ceremony •
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Prominent Chinese Rights Activist Is Jailed
By Jim Yardley
The New York Times
Friday 04 April 2008
Beijing - A Chinese court on Thursday sentenced an outspoken human rights
advocate to three and a half years in prison after ruling that his critical
essays and comments about Communist Party rule amounted to inciting subversion,
his lawyer said.
The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human
rights activists in China, quickly brought outside criticism of China at a time
when the government is already facing international concern over its handling
of the Tibetan crisis.
Mr. Hu's case has been followed closely, especially in Europe, and critics
say his conviction is part of a government crackdown to silence dissidents before
Beijing plays host to the Olympic Games in August.
Diane Sovereign, a spokeswoman for the United States embassy in Beijing, described
the United States government's reaction to the verdict as "dismayed."
"Mr. Hu has consistently worked within China's legal system to
protect the rights of his fellow citizens," Ms. Sovereign said. "These
types of activities support China's efforts to institute the rule of law
and should be applauded, not suppressed or punished."
Mr. Hu's wife, Zeng Jinyan, herself a well-known blogger and rights advocate,
was distraught in a telephone interview on Thursday.
"I feel hopeless and helpless," said Ms. Zeng, who is under house
arrest with the couple's infant daughter in their suburban Beijing apartment,
though she was allowed to visit her husband on Thursday.
Asked why Mr. Hu was arrested and convicted, she said: "The fundamental
reason is to silence him. He had been speaking up and all he said was plain
truth. It makes them unhappy. But they can do this to him because they're
unhappy?"
Earlier this year, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice raised Mr. Hu's
case during a meeting with China's foreign minister, Yang Jiechi. The
European Union presidency has criticized the subversion charge and called for
Mr. Hu's release.
Li Fangping, the defense lawyer, said the court showed leniency by sentencing
him for less than the maximum five-year term. Mr. Li said the sentence also
forbids Mr. Hu from making any public political statements for one year following
his release from prison.
"Three and a half years is still unacceptable to us," Mr. Li told
a throng of reporters outside the courthouse. "There is a major disagreement
between prosecutors and the defense over punishing someone for making peaceful
speech. We still believe the charge does not stand."
Prosecutors in China rarely discuss cases after a verdict. But Xinhua, the
country's official news agency, reported that Mr. Hu had confessed to
the charges. "Hu spread malicious rumors and committed libel in an attempt
to subvert the state's political power and socialist system," the
court verdict stated, according to Xinhua.
In his human rights work, Mr. Hu has volunteered to help AIDS patients and
plant trees to fight desertification, the conversion of the land into a desert.
In recent years, he has maintained regular contacts with dissidents and other
advocates on issues ranging from environmental protection and legal reform.
He has also served as a one-man clearinghouse of information about peasant protests
and dissidents, subjects that are often censored in the Chinese media.
He was detained on Dec. 27 last year and then later charged with "incitement
to subvert state power," a charge based on six essays and interviews in
which he criticized the Communist Party. Mr. Hu wrote a long, blistering essay
detailing how police had tortured two people who had protested about having
their homes illegally seized in Beijing. In that essay, he also criticized the
Communist Party's human rights record.
The timing was sensitive. Mr. Hu posted the essay on his personal blog in advance
of last fall's 17th Party Congress, a key political meeting in which the
new party leadership was announced.
In another blog posting, Mr. Hu wrote about China's political formulation
known as "one country, two systems" under which Hong Kong is part
of China yet is allowed a more democratic political system. Mr. Hu argued that
all of China should be democratic.
Last year, Mr. Hu also co-wrote an article that criticized the Communist Party
for failing to fulfill its Olympic promises to improve human rights before the
Beijing Games, though that article apparently was not included as evidence.
Mr. Li said that Mr. Hu continues to maintain his innocence, though he has
acknowledged outside the courtroom that some of his comments were "excessive"
in the context of existing law. All of the articles used as evidence have been
censored on China's Internet.
China's subversion laws, like those over state secrets, are deliberately
vague and grant prosecutors considerable leeway in determining "subversive"
speech - even though freedom of speech is included in the Chinese constitution.
"The line between 'freedom of speech' and 'endangering
state security' is very ambiguous," Mr. Li said. "In the criminal
law, the article concerning subversion of state power contains only 30 words.
And neither lawmakers nor the judicial branch have given any further explanation."
The lawyer added that the defense team had tried during the trial to clarify
what constituted free speech, and what did not. "Only in that way can
we protect the freedom of speech from being restrained or disregarded in the
name of state security," Mr. Li said.
Human rights groups have called for Mr. Hu's release and condemned his
arrest and conviction.
Mr. Hu now has 10 days to decide whether to appeal the verdict. His health
is also an issue; he has Hepatitis B and also takes medication for a deteriorating
liver condition. Mr. Li said Mr. Hu has the option of applying for medical parole
if he chooses not to appeal.
Meanwhile, Ms. Zeng, Mr. Hu's wife, was anguished. "I'm very
disappointed and very pained," she said. "Yesterday, I thought he
could be back home today."
---------
Howard W. French contributed reporting from Shanghai. Zhang Jing contributed
research from Beijing.
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Pelosi Wants Bush to Weigh Skipping Olympic Ceremony
By Carl Hulse
The New York Times
Wednesday 02 April 2008
Washington - Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, suggested Tuesday that
President Bush consider skipping the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Beijing
to protest China's actions in Tibet, its overall human rights record and its
trade policies.
The speaker, a California Democrat who has just returned from a meeting with
the Dalai Lama in India, said a high-profile boycott of the opening festivities,
which are typically a celebration of the host country, could send a strong message
without interfering with the Games themselves.
"The president of the United States, if he is going to give credibility
to the Chinese government, he should also take the time to say to them we are
very concerned, not only about human rights, which are a very important value
to us, but we are also concerned about our trade situation," Ms. Pelosi
said in an interview.
Ms. Pelosi, a longtime critic of China, said German representatives to the
Games had already said they would not attend the opening ceremony in August,
and the idea had been raised by other foreign officials as a way to show support
for Tibetans seeking more independence from China. Ms. Pelosi made it clear
that she was not advocating any interference with the sporting events.
She did say that if the International Olympic Committee wanted to portray the
Games as a gathering that transcends sports, its members should hold the host
country to high human rights standards.
"They are a committee that organizes sporting events," she said.
"If they are going to contend that they are something beyond that, then
the country that is honored with the Olympic Games should honor its commitments."
The spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry, Jiang Yu, said: "If someone
wants to use the Olympic Games to flatter themselves, it will not succeed. If
they don't participate, it is the same as leaving the Olympic family. It will
undermine their own interests."
Mr. Bush intends to attend the Olympics, and the White House said he was not
considering bypassing the opening ceremony.
"The president views the Olympics as a sporting event and an important
opportunity to support America's athletes," said Tony Fratto, a White House
spokesman. "He has also made it very clear that the Olympics will shine
a bright light on China regarding a variety of issues."
Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Republican of Wisconsin, who made
the trip with Ms. Pelosi, said it would be premature to make a decision on attendance
of the ceremony now, but that China should be aware that its actions are being
closely watched as the Games approach.
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