Public AI index: ASA 17/024/2006

Distribution: PG/SC

To: Health Professional Network

From: Health and Human Rights Team

Date: 6 April 2006

Health professional action update

Hu Jia, HIV/AIDS activist

China

(further information on ASA 17/011/2006, 23 February 2006)

Summary

Hu Jia was released on 28 March after having been held without charge for 41 days. He had reportedly been detained by police in a small holiday resort on the outskirts of Beijing. In protest at his detention and in solidarity with his fellow hunger-strikers out of prison, he reportedly only consumed soup and water for a month and lost 15 kilograms.

Hu Jia reportedly suffers from Hepatitis B and needs daily medication. Following his release, Hu Jia said that he had repeatedly asked the police to provide him with medicine from his home, but they refused to do so. He reportedly is in the early stages of liver cirrhosis.

Background information

Hu Jia went missing on the morning of 16 February. He was feared to be detained by the Chinese authorities following protest hunger strikes by human rights activists and lawyers against beatings and unlawful detention of human rights activists. The authorities repeatedly denied knowledge of Hu Jia’s whereabouts, despite numerous appeals for information from his wife.

Hu Jia is the co-founder of the Beijing Aizhixing Institute of Health Education and an outspoken advocate for people with HIV/AIDS. He has also cofounded Loving Source, an organisation helping children who have lost their parents to AIDS-related illnesses.

Hu Jia was also detained by the police on several occasions in 2004 to stop him from publicly commenmorating the 15th anniversary of the 4 June 1989 crackdown.

Recommended action

Thank you to all of you who have acted on behalf of Hu Jia. No further action is required at the moment.

********