Hu Jia Has Convictions So He Stands Up For People’s Rights
Translation provided by a friend
The wife of imprisoned dissident Hu Jia, Zeng Jinyan wrote this article which is now on the website of Yazhou Zhoukan in Hong Kong. The Chinese text is at http://www.yzzk.com/cfm/Content_Archive.cfm?Channel=br&Path=3522272462/18br1b.cfm and copied below.
胡佳有信念所以維權 ．曾金燕
胡佳病情惡化仍被拒保外就醫，但他絕不願用原則交易。
Hu Jia Has Convictions So He Stands Up For People’s Rights by Zeng Jinyan
Hu Jia’s condition has worsened but he is still denied medical treatment outside of prison, but he will not make a deal at the expense of his principles
Hu Jia, for upholding the rights of Chinese citizens, was found guilty of “the crime of inciting the overthrow of the state”. Hu Jia has already served over two years and three months of his sentence. He is suffering from cirrhosis of the liver and his health is steadily deteriorating. On March 20, he entered the prison hospital because he was thought to have liver cancer. The authorities refused our request that he be released on bail for medical treatment, and at the same time refused our request to examine the report on his medical examination. I was informed that my husband Hu Jie had already on April 9 been sent back to the prison under guard, that the growth on his liver was a hemangioma — a blood vessel tumor — and that regulations do not provide for a prisoner to be allowed bail for outside medical treatment for cirrhosis of the liver.
The regular visit for the month of April was scheduled for the afternoon of April 20, and we saw each other that day. He is very thin, has run a high fever recently, and he had lost 4 kilograms due to diarrhea. Yet he was in good spirits, and smiled at us from a distance. Hu Jia is very concerned about the situation in Yushu. He asked if our friends of the wild di oxen group and their families are safe and asked if the widow of Secretary Sonam Dorje is alright. He asked me to burn incense for the people who had died in the earthquake zone. I said to him, you need to take good care of yourself, and keep both your health and your spirits up. He tries to pass each day in a calm and good humored way. He writes the countdown of the number of days until he will return home on each letter. If Hu Jia were writing a letter right now, he would write: I still have 431 days to go before I can be reunited with my family.
Hu Jia was brought up with a traditional education. His maternal grandfather studied in Japan for eight years and earned degrees in both political economy and law. His grandfather was a firm believer in Tibetan Buddhism. Everyday he reads the scriptures and prostrates himself before an image of Buddha. He was condemned to hard labor and exile for many years because he, as director of the Beihai Buddhist Association in 1951 held a religious assembly at the Yonghe Temple where the Panchen Lama prayed for world peace. Hu Jia’s father, of Qinghua University, and his mother, of Nankai University, were both condemned as rightists as students.
Hu Jia was a rightist baby from birth. >From his family, he inherited his forthrightness, inherited his search for truth and his firm belief in the good. Hu Jia has never been preoccupied with food or clothing. He is very pure, like the sunshine. If he had been born in Europe or American he possibly would have simply been an ordinary good citizen. In China, however, the authorities kept him under house arrest for four years and then condemned him to prison for three years and six months.
For me personally, the most difficult period is probably already past. We are still young. It is hard not to be indignant when for the sake of upholding God-given rights, he has been detained without notice, kept under house arrest, beaten and suffered other unjust treatment. All these things, however, helped Hu Jia prepare for the experience of prison. I can’t guess how many spiritual twists and turns Hu Jia has been through since that day on December 27, 2007, when he was led away in handcuffs. He said to me, “We must struggle to forgive those Public Security State Security Detachment police who harm us.” He also said “Don’t be in contact with those Public Security State Security Detachment police. Don’t ask anything of them. Although I yearn to be out of prison even one second quicker, it must not be as the cost of trading in our principles to them in some deal.” We promised each other not to fritter away our time. While awaiting our reunion, we must live each day as fully and learning as much as we can all the while. I have already prepared myself for three and a half years in jail. Hu Jia’s mother said to him several times, live well, take care of your physical and spiritual health. Hu’s mother is a remarkable woman. She lived as an exiled rightist laborer for 22 years and suffered much unjust treatment. This never broke her down, but on the contrary made her a strong, tenacious and magnanimous person.
The subscriptions to the magazines and newspapers that Hu Jia reads in prison come to most of his living expenses. He follows current events even more closely than we who live outside prison do. He asked me to make a contribution on his behalf for the Sichuan earthquake victims, to buy annual editions of books, to speak out for educational reform, and to cast a ballot for the election of Han Han as one of Time Magazines 100 most influential people. When he speaks with us, he speaks very mildly. The most something upsets him, such as solitary confinement or illness) the more lightly he speaks of it to us. This reassures us some, and makes us feel that his spirit has not been broken. I can go so far as to say with a teary smile, the disaster of prison has tempered both Hu Jia and myself. This tempering has made us more mature and steady.
http://www.yzzk.com/cfm/Content_Archive.cfm?Channel=br&Path=3522272462/18br1b.cfm