Hu Jia wins Sakharov Prize

Hu Jia's arrest warrant













Hu Jia, jailed Chinese AIDS activist, has won the most prestigious European Human Rights award, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. Read about it in the New York Times.  The Chinese government reacted angrily, branding him a subversive criminal. 

Named for a Soviet dissident, the Sakharov Prize is considered the EU's top rights award and comes with a $64,000 honorarium. Previous winners include former South African President Nelson Mandela, East Timorese leader Xanana Gusmao and Cuban dissident Oswaldo Paya.

Hu's wife is also jailed and not permitted to read correspondence from him or have any other contact. A devout buddhist, Hu wrote about a litany of human rights abuses in China, from the destruction of the environment to AIDS to the harassment of dissidents. He wrote highly critical articles on the Chinese Communist Party. I hope that our country will not cede the moral high ground on speaking out on this issue to Europe. Certainly China holds all of our financial paper, but we need to show that we will not be coerced into silence.

Join the ranks of civilization, China! And you too, Myanmar. Stop stifling dissent, subjugating the people of Tibet, and using prison slave labor. Stop the harvesting of prisoner's organs. Hold the MSG.



He who exercises government by means of his virtue may be compared to the north polar star, which keeps its place and all the stars turn towards it.

Confucius, The Confucian Analects