Tingog.com

Hu Jia, 34, a prominent activist on human rights in China has been convicted of inciting subversion of state power and socialist system and jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Are we seeing a purge in China? A silencing of voices, in response to the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games? If you ask The Chinese Governments, they will say no. But after the monks, the activists, who else is left? Democracy is taking a backseat to The Olympics.

Hu Jia, 34, was convicted on the basis of five articles he posted on the Internet in 2006 and 2007 and several interviews with foreign reporters during which he complained of limits imposed on his freedom to move about during the 17th Party Congress in Beijing last October, his lawyer said.

In the articles, Hu compared the party to the Mafia and called for improved treatment of Chinese with AIDS. He also advocated more freedom for religious activities and greater autonomy for Tibet, taboo subjects in China’s censored political discourse.

The prosecutor maintained, and the court ruled, that those statements violated Chinese law barring incitement to subvert state authority, said Hu’s lawyer, Li Fangping.

These days, comparing governments to the mafia seems to be the in vogue thing to do. Russia and Putin, Philippines and Arroyo, and those guys in Burma and Sudan.

But this is alarming, not only because it infringes on the rights of individuals to convey their thoughts and opinions on their own government, but according to The Chinese government, participating in these acts should land you in jail.

Are the actions of Hu Jia subversion or Free Speech? I say it’s free speech. And I say, the arrest is a preemptive move by The Chinese Government to try to silence activists in the run up to The Olympics. No longer is The Olympics going to be a uniting force for the world, but it will be the magnifying glass that will finally showcase the tyranny of the government itself.