Sarah Ludford MEP

Chinese dissident win of European Freedom prize no block to MEP human rights delegation

5.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Thu 23rd Oct 2008

Chinese political activist Hu Jia has won the European Parliament's Sakharov prize for freedom of thought. The award goes to individuals who have made an important contribution to human rights or democracy, and previous winners include Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and Xanana Gusmao of East Timor.

Hu Jia has endured years of hardship to speak out as a human rights activist and dissident in China

Commenting on the occasion, Liberal Democrat justice & human rights spokeswoman Sarah Ludford MEP said:

"Hu Jia deserves this prestigious prize, and I am glad the EU has been consistent and used this opportunity to highlight the horrific human rights abuses that are still occurring in China."

The European Parliament's human rights sub-committee has a planned delegation to China scheduled for early November and Sarah added:

"The fact of this award ought not to impede the MEP delegation which aims to further investigate the human rights situation in China. It would be a clever move by the Chinese authorities to give the trip the go-ahead on the grounds that these challenging issues need more dialogue, not less. "

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