China’s Hu Jia wins EU ‘free thought’ prize

The European Parliament today (23 October) awarded Chinese political activist Hu Jia the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, the EU’s top human rights accolade.

“By awarding the Sakharov Prize to Hu Jia, the Parliament firmly and resolutely acknowledges the daily struggle for freedom of all Chinese human rights defenders,” said Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering. 

The prize, in its twentieth year, is awarded to “individuals who have made an important contribution to the fight for human rights or democracy”. Named after Soviet dissident and political activist Andrei Sakharov, this year’s other nominees included former Belarusian presidential candidate Aleksander Kozulin and Appollinaire Malu Malu, chair of the independent electoral commission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

Hu, a human rights activist and dissident in the People’s Republic of China, was jailed for three-and-a-half years on 3 April 2008 for “inciting subversion of state power”. Ever since, protests against the decision have been heard all over the world, with the Parliament calling for his release in a resolution dated January 2008. 

The charge relates to a November 2007 speech on human rights in China in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, delivered to MEPs from house arrest via videoconference. Previously, he has spoken out in favour of an official enquiry into the Tiananmen Square massacre as well as on environmental issues and HIV/AIDS. He has been jailed by the Chinese authorities on numerous occasions. 

Welcoming the “large majority” in favour of the decision, EPP-ED Group President Joseph Daul expressed hope that awarding the prize to Hu would “send a clear message to the world that the European Parliament will always support and encourage those who are fighting for human rights and freedom of thought”. 

“Beijing was lobbying heavily for Hu Jia to be passed over but the award of this richly deserved accolade to him shows that MEPs will not be silenced like so many Chinese dissidents have been,” Charles Tannock, foreign affairs spokesman for the British Conservatives in the European Parliament, told the IHT. 

Earlier, Chinese Ambassador to the EU Song Zhe had sent Pöttering a letter warning that awarding the prize to Hu would “inevitably hurt the Chinese people and bring serious damage to China-EU relations,” according to Associated Press reports. 

“Heavy-handed Chinese state lobbying to influence the outcome of the Sakharov prize winner only plays into the hands of critics and reinforces the case for Hu Jia,” ALDE leader Graham Watson told the AP. 

The award, which is accompanied by the sum of €50,000 for the winner, will be presented at a ceremony in Strasbourg on 17 December. 

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