House-arrested Hu Jia gets a few surprise visitors

John Kennedy

BIO

John Kennedy is Canadian, and a longtime resident of southern China. As a veteran member of the Chinese online community, most notably through his six years as a former editor with Global Voices Online, John knows more than is useful about China today but enjoys sharing his findings on Twitter as @feng37 and @28wordslater.

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House-arrested Hu Jia gets a few surprise visitors image 1

Beijing-based dissident Hu Jia may still be on a hunger strike in protest of being placed under house arrest on September 18.

It's hard to say because his home internet connection was cut on September 20, and nothing has been heard directly from him since, although he has managed to pass messages through friends.

Except that the Chinese Human Rights Defenders blog picked up some photos yesterday posted to Sina Weibo by a few of Hu's supporters, three guys who were blocked by police stationed outside Hu's building from visiting him at home (for a meal, supposedly) but were eventually able to get him down to the courtyard for a few quick photos.

In early 2008 while Hu was in prison and his wife Zeng Jinyan kept under house arrest with their newborn daughter, anonymous netizens successfully executed a mission to deliver baby formula to their home.