Thaindian News

BEIJING (BNO NEWS) — Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia was released from jail on Sunday after three-and-a-half years, CNN reported.

“A sleepless night — Hu Jia arrived at home at 2:30. He’s safe and I’m very happy,” Zeng Jinyan, Hu’s wife, said in a Twitter post Sunday morning. “He needs to rest for a while.”

Hu, 37, was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for “inciting to subvert state power” after denouncing China’s human rights record in a series of articles ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Chinese police, however, guarded entrances to Hu’s apartment compound on Sunday and patrolled surrounding streets. Hu’s wife, who told CNN on Friday that authorities started 24-hour surveillance on her several days before Hu’s expected return, appeared unreachable via phone or the internet.

“Hu Jia told me that he won’t change, and police told him they may put him under house arrest in that case,” she said. “As long as there’s no democracy or the rule of law in China, our situation won’t change at all.”

Commenting on the end of the detention of the political activist, the President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek said that Hu and his wife should be allowed “to carry on with their everyday life without further hindrance.”

“The news of the end of the detention of Hu Jia is uplifting. His work and that of his wife Zeng Jinyan in favour of democracy, the environment and their fight against HIV/AIDS are praiseworthy - they should be supported, not jailed or harassed for their activism,” Buzek said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported that renowned Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei was released on bail after “confessing his crimes.” The Beijing police department said that Ai Weiwei has been released because of “his good attitude in confessing his crimes as well as a chronic disease he suffers from.”

Human Rights Watch, however, expressed concern about the conditions of Ai’s release, adding that in the past six months the Chinese government has arbitrarily detained dozens of activists who have retreated into uncharacteristic silence and seclusion upon their release.

Ai Weiwei was arrested on April 3 at Beijing’s main airport, but his detention was acknowledged only on April 7. He remained in police custody under “residential surveillance” at an unknown location for 80 days. He was denied access to his lawyer, and his wife was allowed to visit him only once on May 15, 42 days into his detention.