Security Officers Detain Activist Hu Jia at Henan AIDS Conference

November 29, 2005

Public security officers detained human rights activist Hu Jia when he attempted to deliver a petition to Vice Premier Wu Yi at an AIDS conference in Henan province, according to a November 7 report by Radio Free Asia. Public security officials have also detained 30 other petitioners at the conference, according to a November 8 South China Morning Post report (subscription required). Authorities closed the conference to the public and prevented civil society groups from participating.

Public security officers detained human rights activist Hu Jia when he attempted to deliver a petition to Vice Premier Wu Yi at an AIDS conference in Henan province, according to a November 7 report by Radio Free Asia. Public security officials have also detained 30 other petitioners at the conference, according to a November 8 South China Morning Post report (subscription required). Authorities closed the conference to the public and prevented civil society groups from participating.

Hu Jia carried the petition on behalf of more than 50 AIDS patients from Henan province. Hu has served as executive director of the Aizhi Action Project, and has been involved in campaigns to free detained activists such as Liu Di. In August, security officers beat him and placed him under house arrest during the visit of Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Henan province has one of the highest rates of HIV/AIDS infection in China, according to government statistics reported by Xinhua in November 2003. This high prevalence rate is primarily due to the illegal sale of blood by infected persons at plasma centers during the 1990s. As many as 230 plasma centers existed in Henan province before a government crackdown between 1995 and 1997, according to a November 2003 report in the Shenzhen Daily. For more information on the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Henan province, see the transcript of an October 2003 CECC Roundtable, "China's Mounting HIV/AIDS Crisis: How Should the United States Respond?".