Zeng Jinyan – who is under house arrest with her 11-month-old daughter – crept down to a gate near the back entrance to her flat to speak to an AFP journalist last Friday. From the article:
" … As she glanced constantly from left to right, Zeng said she was nervous about Hu's nomination for the peace prize, and sometimes still agonised over whether to continue the human rights fight.
" She said authorities had once told her that if she did something wrong, Hu would suffer the consequences in prison …
" …"To talk about human rights is every individual's fundamental right, it is not something that you talk about when authorities let you, and that you do not talk about when authorities do not agree," she said …"
During the Olympics authorities took Zeng Jinyan out of Beijing and held in the northeastern city of Dalian, apparently to stop her talking to journalists.
Playing it safe
Her husband Hu Jia, a renowned human rights' activist, is serving three-and-a-half years' in prison after giving interviews to overseas media and writing articles for the Internet.
In April this year, he was convicted of 'inciting subversion of state power'. The 35-year-old, who started out as an AIDS activist seven years ago, has been repeatedly harassed and beaten by police because of his activities and outspokenness.
He had been tipped to win the Nobel Peace Prize. But the prize, which was announced that same day his wife spoke to AFP, instead went to former Finish President and peace mediator Martti Ahtisaari.
The Telegraph say the Nobel Peace Prize committee had played it safe. They write:
" …Provoking the powerhouses of China and Russia, especially when Europe depends on the latter for so much of its energy, is clearly a more unappetizing prospect for the Nobel judges.
" It may have ditched the quixotic eccentricity, but it seems that the Nobel committee is as politically correct as it ever was …"
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