China has lashed out at the European Parliament for awarding aprestigious human rights prize to jailed Chinese dissident Hu Jia.
Chinasays Thursday's decision to award Hu the Sakharov Prize for Freedom ofThought was interference in its internal affairs. China's ForeignMinistry referred to the activist as a "jailed criminal."
Hu's wife welcomed news of the award and said she believes her husband would be happy because his work was being validated.
Hu was arrested last December, and later sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for allegedly subverting state power.
Authoritiesdetained him after he testified about China's human rights record viaphone to the European Parliament's human rights subcommittee.
TheEuropean parliament's president, Hans-Gert Poettering, says it believesthat giving the award to Hu would send a signal of clear support tothose working for human rights in China.
Hu Jia has campaigned for civil rights, environmental protection and AIDS advocacy in China.
TheSakharov Prize is named after the late Soviet physicist and humanrights activist Andrei Sakharov, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975.