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03.04.2008Olympic Watch condemns Hu Jia’s jailing as IOC heads to Beijing
Prague, April 3, 2008 - Olympic Watch has condemned the conviction of the Chinese dissident Hu Jia, who was jailed for three and half years for “inciting subversion of state power and the socialist system”. “The Chinese government is ignoring its commitments of human rights improvements and testing how far it can go just as IOC executives head to Beijing,” said Olympic Watch chairman Jan Ruml.
“The IOC has its last chance during this visit to Beijing to remind the Chinese officials of their public pledges and to demand freedom of the press and of expression and respect for human rights in general. If that does not happen, athletes, sponsors and world leaders alike will be forced to decide how to disassociate themselves from the human rights violations and the immoral behavior of the IOC,” added Ruml.
Hu Jia was arrested last December just a few weeks after expressing to the European Parliament his criticism of the fact that the Beijing Olympics is being organized by people responsible for human rights violations. Olympic Watch has previously criticized his arrest and called for his release, along with two other “Olympic prisoners”, Ye Guozhu and Yang Chunlin.
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