By M.E. Dodge
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

BEIJING, China – One of China’s most well-known human-rights activists is ill with a serious liver condition speculated to be cancer.

Hu Jia, internationally acclaimed human rights activist, is in need of serious medical attention. Hu is recognized for speaking out on issues in China, including environmental concerns, patient rights for persons suffering from AIDS, and the expansion of democratic rights, was the winner of Europe’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 2008, and was a leading runner-up for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize. 

Hu’s wife, Zeng Jinyan, announced his illness as the 36-year old dissident remains in jail on charges of subverting state power. Hu is serving a 3 1/2-year jail term for sedition that is set to end in June 2011. The charge stems from police accusations that he had planned to work with foreigners to disturb the Olympic Games. Zeng said in an interview that doctors discovered a mass on his liver during tests after he was admitted to a Beijing prison medical center on March 30.

Hu was found to have chronic cirrhosis in 2006 stemming from a hepatitis B infection, and in January 2009 he had to stop taking a drug used to treat it after developing a resistance to it. Cirrhosis can lead to liver cancer. in Zeng’s parole request, she indicated that Hu’s worsening condition and the ineffectiveness of medical treatment together meet the legal conditions for medical parole outlined in Chinese regulations.

Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) director Renee Xia said that prison authorities have refused to treat Hu’s illness. “Overwhelming evidence from the past two years demonstrates that Hu has not been receiving adequate care in prison medical facilities,” she said, this despite the law, which requires prisons to provide inmates with adequate medical care.  She said that she had asked the authorities to grant him parole but that she and Hu’s lawyer had received strong indications from prison officials that the request was unlikely to be granted. However, Zeng, herself a prominent blogger and rights activist, said that Hu’s relatives had been able to visit him the day after he was officially admitted to the Beijing prison medical center.

For more information, please see:

Asia News – Jailed dissident Hu Jia might have liver cancer 9 April 2010

The New York Times – Chinese Dissident Is Gravely Ill, Wife Says – 8 April 2010

The Guardian – Chinese dissident Hu Jia’s wife appeals for his release on health grounds – 9 April 2010