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Hu Jia, Tiananmen 2.0, and the SchizOlympics

The report this morning that Hu Jai has been imprisoned for 3 1/2 years in China, is disturbing - and yet another example of China's crackdown on so-called dissidents. Never mind that the Chinese Constitution guarantees freedom of speech.

RConversation reports:

"The Olympics may be athletic competition, but this year it is also a contest of alternative realities. If you think things are strange or disturbing now, just wait.

Today Hu Jia was sentenced to three and a half years in jail plus an extra year without "political rights," found guilty of "subverting state power." His alleged "crimes" according to his lawyer involved comments made in interviews with foreign media and articles posted on Boxun.com, a Chinese-language U.S.-based website that is banned in China. Here is the official Xinhua report on his sentencing.

Hu has been under arrest since December, and under house arrest for much longer. His wife Zeng Jinyan and newborn baby have also been under effective house arrest since his formal arrest - despite the fact that neither has been charged with any crime. (The TIME blog has a video of their recent attempt to visit Zeng... crime scene tape was deployed outside the entrance to her building.) The small but vocal politically-edgy part of the Chinese blogosphere has for months been rallying in support of Hu and Zeng. There have been online and offline petitions calling for Hu's release. After several bloggers were blocked by police from delivering milk powder to Zeng and the baby, one guy who clearly plays a lot of video games or something finally succeeded after a thoroughly planned overnight commando-style "mission" (Read John Kennedy's translation of the blogger's account of how he got around the cops.. titled "Hack Into Freedom City"... it's quite something)."

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