E.U. Honors Jailed Chinese Dissident

In her most recent blog entry, dated Oct. 23, Zeng did not mention the award but provided a summary of her 30-minute meeting with her husband Wednesday. She said he still had not been allowed to take hot showers but had not been assigned to labor, and that he had been studying every day.

Her note on Sept. 25 was more emotional. "I learned that because Hu Jia had spoken about human rights with the other prisoners, on Aug. 13 he was placed in hand and foot shackles and held in solitary confinement for 24 hours," she wrote.

Zeng went on to say that she confronted the prison guards about the situation, but they said that they had created "the most comfortable physical circumstances" for Hu because of his health. Hu suffers from liver disease and needs medication on a daily basis. She said she was urged to "to write about more felicitous aspects of society in my letters to my husband, so as to expedite his return to a normal life in society."

Zeng, who has also been active in speaking out for human rights, and the couple's infant daughter were taken from Beijing the day before the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics on Aug. 8. They were allowed to return in early September.

When Hu's name came up as a possible front-runner for the Nobel Peace Prize this month, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang called Hu a "criminal."

Qin repeated similar remarks Thursday afternoon, saying of the Sakharov Prize decision that China expresses its "strong dissatisfaction and objection" and that it is a "plot to intervene in Chinese internal affairs."

Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group, said the selection of Hu "sends a powerful message to the Chinese government."

"Beijing pledged to improve human rights and to show the world a 'harmonious society' during the Olympics, but instead silenced and locked up peaceful rights defenders," Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for the group, said in a statement.

Researchers Zhang Jie and Liu Liu in Beijing contributed to this report.