Solidarity call for imprisoned Chinese AIDS activist Hu Jia: A Day Longer is a Day Too Long
World AIDS Vaccine Day takes place on 18 May 2010. To mark the occasion, and to reflect imprisoned Chinese Human Rights Defender Hu Jia's commitment to raising awareness of AIDS in China, this grassroots campaign is calling for a day of action to remind the Chinese government that the world has not forgotten about Hu Jia. Hu Jia is currently in a state of ill-health. His family has not been given any written results of medical tests he has undergone since May 2009 and they fear for his well-being.
We urge you to call the Chinese embassy in your country, the Beijing Prison where Hu Jia is being held and/or the English-speaking line of the Beijing Public Security Bureau (numbers below) to express your concern about Hu Jia and demand that he be granted parole on medical grounds. From experience, it is clear that this type of pressure can have a positive impact both on the treatment of Hu Jia in prison and on the treatment of his wife, mother and two year old daughter when attempting to contact or visit him.
Before being incarcerated, Hu Jia was a prominent and active defender of the human rights of others. He began his work as an environmentalist before becoming involved in efforts to promote awareness of AIDS in China and acceptance of people living with HIV/AIDS. He subsequently broadened his scope to document and speak out on a wide range of human rights abuses taking place in China. He was put under close surveillance as a result of his work, which spurred he and his wife, Zeng Jinyan, to make a documentary detailing their experiences of living under such conditions. This led to the pair being placed under house arrest in 2007.
In 2008 Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on a charge of "inciting subversion of state authority". These charges related to a number of articles he had written and interviews he had given in which he was critical of the authorities. Zeng Jinyan and her daughter remain under close surveillance.
Note: To call China and most of the countries below from Skype costs approximately �.020/$0.024/£0.014 per minute. Creating an account is free and easy, and can be done here: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/
Beijing Municipal Prison: +86 10 612 941 94
Foreigners Section of the Beijing Public Security Bureau: +86 10 8402 0101 (3 for English)
Chinese Embassy in Australia: +61 262 734 780
Chinese Embassy in Belgium: +32 475 820 752
Chinese Embassy in Canada: +1 613 789 3434
Chinese Embassy in France: +33 1 49521950
Chinese Embassy in Germany +49 030 275 880
Chinese Embassy in India +91 11 26112345
Chinese Embassy in Ireland: +353 1 2691707
Chinese Embassy in Japan: +81 3 340 33 388
Chinese Embassy in Netherlands: +70 653 744 584
Chinese Embassy in New Zealand: + 64 447 213 82
Chinese Embassy in Norway: +47 221 48 908
Chinese Embassy in Russia: +70 95 95 611 68
Chinese Embassy in Singapore: +65 641 802 52
Chinese Embassy in South Africa: +27 12 342 4194
Chinese Embassy in South Korea: +82 273 810 38
Chinese Embassy in Spain: +34 91 519 42 42
Chinese Embassy in Sweden: +46 8 57 93 6437
Chinese Embassy in Switzerland: +41 31 352 7333
Chinese Embassy in Thailand: +66 224 57 044
Chinese Embassy in the UK: +44 131 337 9896
Chinese Embassy in the USA: +1 202 328 2500
Permanent Mission of China to the UN, Political Affairs Section: +1 212 655 6141
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