Man sentenced to 3 years in jail for writing essays

A Chinese court sentenced human rights activist Hu Jia to three and a half years in prison for writing essays the Communist Party ruled to be subversive. Prosecutors claimed was lenient because the maximum penalty for such acts was five years. The sentencing comes at a bad time for China who is already facing mounting opposition for it’s crackdown in Tibet leading up to the Olympics. “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.

U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Diane Sovereign described the U.S. 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,” Sovereign said. “These types of activities support China’s efforts to institute the rule of law and should be applauded, not suppressed or punished.”

Zeng, Hu’s wife who is under house arrest with their infant daughter said “I feel hopeless and helpless.” Zeng believes the reason her husband was arrsted was, “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?”

Hu Jia is an activist and dissident in the People’s Republic of China. His work has focused on the Chinese democracy movement, Chinese environmentalist movement, and HIV/AIDS in China. In addition to being an auxiliary member of the team to save the endangered Tibetan antelope, Hu Jia has been involved with AIDS advocacy as the executive director of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and as one of the founders of the non-governmental organization Loving Source.

In America writers who annoy the government simply setup their own blog and photoshop pictures of George Bush.