(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY TRACY PFEIFFER
ANCHOR AUSTIN KIM
You're watching multisource world news analysis from Newsy.
Chinese activist Hu Jia has been released from prison -- but experts say calling him “freed” isn’t quite correct.
ANCHOR: “His wife says he returned home after serving 3 ½ years in jail. Back in 2008 he was convicted on ‘subversion’ charges for allegedly criticizing human rights problems in China.” (WLWT)
Hu leaves prison less than a week after the release of another high-profile dissident, artist Ai Wei Wei -- but reports say both men remain under strict house arrest and are being closely monitored.
“There is reportedly now a heavy police presence surrounding Mr. Hu’s Beijing home, suggesting he could be under some form of house arrest, silenced as it were from talking to the media.”(ITN)
A correspondent for the BBC says -- while some may see the release of Ai and Hu in the same week as progress -- it’s the opposite. He points out -- Hu was only released after serving his full prison term.
“Hu Jia's release, like that of Ai Weiwei, is not a sign of any relaxation in China's ongoing crackdown but shows instead that the Communist Party is expanding it, determined to silence critics even when they are released from custody.”
The Financial Times reports, there may be evidence backing up that idea.
“Dozens of Chinese dissidents have been detained or gone missing this year after anonymous calls on the internet for an uprising in China like the protests sweeping the Arab world. Human rights groups say that more than 130 lawyers, activists and bloggers have been targeted, making it the most intense period of repression in China since the Tiananmen demonstrations in 1989.”
The Guardian reports, Hu’s wife is with him at their home -- but their young daughter was taken to stay with relatives’ to avoid the situation.
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