Police raid prominent dissident’s flat

One of China’s most prominent dissidents said yesterday police interrogated him for eight hours and raided his flat while his four-year-old daughter was present, warning him not to write comments online.
Police swooped on Hu Jia, 38, because of his recent remarks concerning the fate of other dissidents including jailed 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, he told AFP.
Hu was released from prison in June after completing a more than three-year sentence for subversion, but has vowed to continue his rights activism despite official efforts to muzzle him.
Hu – a keen user of Twitter who has been deprived of his political rights for one year – told AFP police accused him of violating two laws by publishing comments online and took away his and his wife’s computers.
Yesterday morning, he was called into a police station in Tongzhou – the Beijing district where he lives – for questioning. Tongzhou police refused to comment on the case when contacted by AFP.
While trying not to attract too much attention, Hu has still been outspoken on the Internet in his support for other dissidents such as blind activist Chen Guangcheng and lawyer Gao Zhisheng, who is being held in a remote prison.
The Wednesday night raid came at the start of what is expected to be a year of heightened tension as China gears up for a 10-yearly leadership transition in the autumn