Calls for Nobel peace prize for Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng
BEIJING, Oct 9 (AFP) - Chinese dissident Lin Xinshu called Thursday for the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded to China's most famous dissident, Wei Jingsheng.
Lin, 54, told AFP by telephone that he had written to the Nobel committee to lend his support to the nomination of Wei, who has been serving a 14 year prison term since 1995, as this year's recipient of the prize.
The Nobel peace prize is to be announced in Oslo on Friday. "Wei is a courageous fighter for democracy," Lin said. "He deserves the Nobel peace prize which will not only benefit him but also all the Chinese people," said Lin, adding that "in this autocratic country there are some heros who do not bend" under pressure.
Each year there are voices that rise in support of Wei, who has spent the past 18 years of his life behind bars except for a brief six-month respite, as the recipient of the Nobel prize. Their calls in support of Wei are matched by the Chinese government's opposition to such an award for the dissident maintaining it would be interfering in China's internal affairs.
Foreign ministry spokesman Shen Guofang on Tuesday termed as "unthinkable" the possibility that Wei would be awarded this year's prize since he "broke the Chinese law."
A year ago Wei was awarded the European Parliament's Andrei Sakharov Prize provoking protests from Beijing.
Wei, 47, who suffers from heart problems, has enjoyed only six months of freedom since being jailed for his role in the Democracy Wall movement in Beijing in 1978-1979.
Considered the father of China's pro-democracy movement, Wei has been called "a common criminal" by the Chinese authorities who dread the thought of him winning the international acclaim of a Nobel prize, observers say.
Freed six months early in 1993 -- when China was pressing to host the 2000 Olympics -- he was detained again in April 1994 and held in secret for 17 months before being jailed again for 14 years for subversion.
He is now held under strict surveillance at Tangshan jail, about 120 kilometers (75 miles) east of Beijing.
Lin, a former researcher with the Center for Research in Chinese Medicine before he was ousted in 1993 for his dissident activities, founded an organization seeking war reparations from Japan.
Lin also told AFP that he had written an open letter to President Jiang Zemin on October 1, China's National Day, demanding that he "recognize and correct the errors" committed by Chinese authorities during the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June 1989.
