Activists Hu Jia and Zeng Jinyan have been placed under house arrest after authorities detained Hu as he prepared to leave for to Europe to speak about the human rights situation in China. Zeng Jinyan was recently named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World. From the International Herald Tribune:
The police barred the couple, Hu Jia, 33, and his wife, Zeng Jinyan, 23, from departing from Beijing on a trip to Hong Kong and several European countries, Hu said. The couple had planned to call attention to what they described as a neglect of AIDS patients and to defend other Chinese campaigners for human rights who had been prosecuted in recent months.
Hu said the police told him that he and Zeng were suspected of “endangering national security” and would be required to stay in their home under police watch for an indefinite period. [Full text]
