Hu Jia is a Chinese dissident and activist who received the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought from Europe in October 2008. He has worked in the Chinese Democracy Movement, the Chinese Environmentalism Movement, and as an activist for AIDS awareness in China. He has been detained for his activities several times and is well known for asserting his rights as a Chinese citizen, demanding arresting officers disclose the charges against him.

Beijing warned the European Parliament that giving Hu the award would hurt the Chinese people and damage relations between Europe and China. A human rights group in New York said that China should be proud of Hu, not ashamed of him. Los Angeles Times: Jailed Chinese Activist Wins EU Human Rights Award (October 23, 2008)

Hu was detained on December 27, 2007, after he issued a manifesto to demand border land rights for peasants whose property had been confiscated for development. On April 3, 2008, Hu was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. He pleaded not guilty on charges of "inciting subversion of state power." Beijing denied the sentence was part of a strategy to silence critics before the Beijing Olympics. The United States and European Union spoke out against the sentence.

• Amnesty International: Hu Jia jailed for three and a half years (April 4, 2008)
• New York Times: Chinese Rights Activist Is Jailed (April 4, 2008)
  • "The conviction of the advocate, Hu Jia, 34, one of the most prominent human rights proponents in China, has quickly drawn outside criticism of China at a time when the government is already facing international concern over its handling of the Tibetan crisis."
• P2Pnet New: Hu Jia - down, but not out (April 4, 2008)
• The Wall Street Journal: The Conviction of Hu Jia (April 4, 2008)
• Turkish Daily News: China jails rights activist (April 4, 2008)
• Al Lazeera English News: China activist jailing criticised (April 4, 2008)