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Groups call for the release of Chinese rights activist Hu

Several civic groups in Taipei yesterday called on the Chinese government to "fulfill its Olympic promises" and release Chinese activist Hu Jia (胡佳).

Hu, an activist on the environment and AIDS patients' rights in China, was arrested in Beijing last month on sedition charges.

Following his arrest, Chinese authorities blocked all contact with the outside world and put his wife, Zeng Jinyan (曾金燕), and his two-month old daughter under house arrest.

"I last talked to him on Dec. 26, a day before he was arrested. After that, I couldn't get in touch with either him or his family," Cheung Ping-ling (張炳玲), former chairwoman of the Hong Kong Journalist Association, told a press conference in Taipei yesterday. "His lawyer's request to see him was declined as well."

A documentary titled Home Arrest that Hu shot during his more than 200 days of house arrest before he was detained, was shown during the press conference.

It shows Chinese state security officers in plain clothes standing outside the windows of his house, watching him and his wife.

"During the Olympic host city selection process in 2001, China promised to improve human rights conditions if Beijing were selected," said Y.C. Kao (高涌誠), head of the Taipei Bar Association's Human Rights Protection Committee. Nothing has happened on that front, he said.
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