A birthday in jail for two Chinese dissidents

Two Chinese prisoners of conscience – Shi Tao and Hu Jia – will today celebrate their birthdays behind bars.

But for neither of them will it be a day of celebration surrounded by family and friends.

Shi Tao, who is serving 10 years in prison, turns 40 today. He has been in jail since 2005.

He's a Chinese journalist and was convicted of 'illegally providing state secrets to foreign entities'. What he did was email a US-based contact – who runs a Chinese pro-democracy website – part of the Chinese Government's instructions on how to report the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests.

Internet company Yahoo! gave his email account-holder information to Chinese authorities, which they then used to secure the conviction.

You can help campaign for Shi Tao's release by signing Amnesty International's postcard petition.

Inciting subversion

Hu Jia, who is serving a three-and-a-half year prison sentence, turns 35 today.

He is a renowned Chinese human rights activist who, in April this year, was convicted of 'inciting subversion of state power'.

We think his conviction is punishment for his public critiques of China's human rights violations. The charges against him cited comments he made in two interviews with foreign media and in about five articles he wrote for the Internet.

Hoping for change

Neither of these men, who have done nothing but stand up for freedom of speech and human rights, should ever have been jailed.

Since their detention both men have endured ill-treatment – we have been told Hu Jia was subjected to dozens of lengthy interrogation sessions and Shi Tao has reportedly being forced to work under harsh conditions in prison.

On top of that their families have been harassed – Shi Tao's wife has reportedly been pressure into divorcing him and Hu Jia's wife lives under constant round-the-clock police surveillance.

I sincerely hope come next July Shi Tao and Hu Jia are released from prison, and can celebrate their birthdays at home with their children and their families.

Until that happens, I will keep on hoping and campaigning for their release.