One expert thinks jailed human rights activist Hu Jia could be in line for the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize; and China isn't happy.

The chief of the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, has predicted this year's prize will go to Hu Jia, to keep human rights pressure on China, reports AFP.

The only other Chinese person to win the prize – which will be announced on 10 October – was the Dalai Lama in 1989.

Jailed for subverting state power

In April this year, Hu Jia, a renowned activist, was sentenced to three-and-a-half years' jail after being convicted of 'inciting subversion of state power'. The conviction was connected with interviews he gave to overseas media and articles he wrote for the Internet.

Hu Jia (35), who started out as an AIDS activist seven years ago, has been repeatedly harassed and beaten by police because of his activities and outspokenness.

Each year, the Norway-based Peace Research Institute, which isn't connected to the Nobel body, puts out a list of who it reckons the contenders are. "Since no one at the Nobel Institute can indulge in speculation, and the nominators are requested not to publish their proposals."

The institute's director thinks the prize is likely to be awarded to a human rights defender, as it will be presented on 10 December – the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

From its website:

" … The Nobel Committee must have long been looking for good Chinese candidates. If the Nobel Committee should have felt a need to avoid offending the People's Republic of China in the years preceding the Beijing Olympics, the time may be seen as ripe now to award the prize to a Chinese human rights activist just after the 2008 Olympic Games …"

China says award right person

China responded to the prediction by urging the prize committee to award it to the "right person". From The Wall St Journal's blogs:

" …Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that such an award would not be welcomed by Beijing. "I don't know where this news comes from, but we think that the Nobel Peace Prize, if it awarded to somebody who really protects world peace, should be given to the right person," he told a regular news conference, according to Reuters …"