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Beijing, Jun (Reuters)-one of China's most prominent dissident, Hu Jia, was reunited with his family early Sunday after serving three-and-a-half-years in prison on charges of subversion, but needs rest and wasn't ready to speak in public, his wife said.
Hu, 37, was convicted in 2008 for "inciting subversion of State power" to criticize restrictions of human rights in China and was seen by some supporters as a potential recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, first went to another jailed Chinese dissident, Liu Xiaobo, last year.
"He is back with his parents and me," his wife, Zeng Jinyan, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
"I don't know if you can speak later. At the moment, I want everything to be quiet. I am worried that doing interviews at this stage could cause problems. Please understand. "
Release of the long line of Hu followed this week's abrupt releasing from detention of prominent artist and activist Ai Weiwei and came as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is visiting Europe on travel, Hungary, Great Britain and Germany.
Asked how it was Hu's health, his mother, Feng Juan, said by telephone: "it is so so. Was very good mood. The first thing he did after returning home was to take a bath. Then he had a meal ".
Communist Party of China has cracked dissent since February, responding to fears that riots throughout the Arab world might also inspire challenges to his rule, especially before a succession of leadership at the end of 2012.
Many dissidents arrested since unit was ordered by the authorities to remain silent, after their release. Hu's wife, Zeng and other lawyers have expressed concern that Chinese authorities may also impose restrictions upon him amounted to house arrest after his release.
Zeng, an activist in her own right, told Reuters at the end of may that she was worried by the trend of rights activists from informal house arrest after their formal release from detention or prison.
"If we are put under house arrest or disappear, do not want our daughter to be with us when we endure life under house arrest," he said. "I sent her to be with my family".
Zeng posted messages on Twitter, the micro-blogging site, describing the harassment by the authorities before the release of Hu.
"The ban on contact with the media was a condition of sentence to Hu Jia, with one year of deprivation of political rights to its release, and no doubt authorities will remind him that," said Phelim Kine, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group based in New York that denounced the conviction of Hu and other Chinese dissidents.
"Given the current climate of oppression, he will be under extreme pressure to obey," Kine said by telephone.
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Hu and Zeng they live in an apartment complex in Beijing East Liberty City called Bobo. Many police officers and security guards patrolled the area Sunday morning.
"A sleepless night and Hu Jia came home at 2: 30. Pacifica. Very happy. Needs a period of time to recover, "Zeng wrote in his latest Twitter entry in Chinese. Most Chinese people lack the know-how to read Twitter, blocks of Government with a censorship firewall.
Hu was arrested at the end of 2007 and then tried and convicted the following year on charges of subversion that stemmed from the criticism of the Government that he had done in Internet writings and interviews with foreign journalists.
China frequently uses the charge of "inciting subversion" to punish dissidents and when Hu was sentenced, State media said that he had succumbed to the accusations against him.
Before he was imprisoned, Hu pursued a vigorous career as an environmental activist, advocate for rural victims of AIDS, and vocal critic of China's restrictions of political dissent. Head shaved and wearing glasses bookish, was a familiar sight in activist gatherings in Beijing.
Hu is also a Buddhist and vegetarian who criticized the controls on that religion in Tibet and China expressed sympathy for the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader reviled by Beijing.
Question about future plans of Hu, Zeng said her husband studied law in jail and has no plans to move abroad.
"According to the law, if you have any criminal record you cannot become a lawyer."But is studying to become a more complete knowledge, Zeng said in May.
"I think it has very clear ideas and fixed on the future, but we don't know what the conditions as (after he goes out) ... I think he (focus) on the rights of defence. "
(Additional reporting by Michael Martina and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
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