Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2008. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Reuters NewMedia - December 17, 2008
Huw Jones

The naming of Hu as the winner of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in October angered Beijing, which called it meddling in China's domestic affairs.

Relations between the EU and China soured further when China called off a Dec. 2 EU-China summit over a plan by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to meet the Dalai Lama, a meeting that went ahead nonetheless.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said Hu's decision to testify to the parliament showed "enormous courage".

"The oppressors will fail in trying to silence the voices of the oppressed," he said, adding that Hu was honoured as "a representative of voices in China and Tibet that aren't heard".

Poettering said Europe wanted good relations with China but could not ignore human rights.

Hu's activism began with advocacy for AIDS sufferers and he emerged as one of China's most vocal advocates of democratic rights, religious freedom and of self-determination for Tibet, which was shaken by protests and a crackdown this year.

He was jailed for 3-1/2 years for "inciting subversion of state power" following his testimony via conference call to the European Parliament's Human Rights Subcommittee, having already spent many months under house arrest with his wife and child.

In a video message via the Internet that drew a standing ovation, Hu's wife Zeng Jingyan told the parliament he had hoped to be China's last prisoner of conscience but more dissidents had been arrested since his detention.

"The situation of freedom of opinion is still absolutely appalling and there is no reason for optimism," she said.

Zeng said she planned to use the 50,000 euro ($70,000) prize money to set up a foundation to support families of activists, who were often harassed by the authorities and sometimes lost their jobs or their liberty.

Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights said on Wednesday China should release results of routine blood tests and provide appropriate care to manage his liver cirrhosis, which is related to his chronic hepatitis B.

Zeng said conditions of his detention had improved since October, and he was looking a bit better.

The annual EU prize is named after Soviet rights activist and dissident Andrei Sakharov and was first awarded in 1988.

It was given last year to Sudanese human rights lawyer Salih Mahmoud Osman. Previous recipients include Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. ($1=.7137 euro) (Writing by David Brunnstrom)

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