China encouraged to release Tiananmen Square Prisoners

The Jurist reports that Human Rights Watch is calling upon the Chinese government to release dozens of Tiananmen Square Protesters that are still in prison:

Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] Tuesday called on China to release the remaining imprisoned Tiananmen Square [BBC backgrounder] protesters as part of a wider effort to improve the nation's human rights image before the 2008 Olympic Games. HRW urged [press release] the government to reverse its official 1989 classification of the protests as a "counterrevolutionary rebellion", release a complete list of casualties, compensate the victims, and allow future public demands for government accountability. Chinese officials have consistently refused to reverse [AFP report] the official 1989 classification, and a spokesman would not comment on the remaining HRW demands. Reuters has more.

Human Rights Watch Report

Chinese Activist Convicted for Speaking out Against Torture

The Jurist reports that Chinese Activist Hu Jai has been convicted for 3 1/2 years for subversion.

[JURIST] Chinese human rights activist Hu Jia [advocacy blog] was sentenced Thursday to 3.5 years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of state power [JURIST news archive]. Hu's trial [HRW case history; JURIST report] began last month; he was formally charged in February after he made public [JURIST reports] letters and recordings from Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng alleging that Gao was tortured into confessing to subversion charges. Hu has 10 days to appeal his conviction.

Read the full Jurist Report here.

Read the AP story here.