China blocks rights activist from leaving country

BEIJING, June 10 (Reuters) A well-known rights activist in China said he had been prevented from leaving the country, the second such case in recent weeks as Beijing seeks to firmly but quietly stifle political dissent.

Yao Lifa, known nationally for his dogged advocacy of elections free of Communist Party control, was due to attend a human rights training course in Switzerland, he told Reuters.

But police stopped him at a Beijing airport security check, citing orders from his home province, Hubei in central China, he said.

''The 17th congress is coming up, so they're afraid of dissidents,'' Yao said, referring to a Communist Party congress later this year that is set to give Hu Jintao a second term as party general secretary.

''But I don't think of myself as a dissident. I'm an ordinary Chinese citizen just trying to exercise rights granted by the law. I shouldn't be treated like a criminal on the run.'' Neither the State Council Information Office nor the Hubei government information office answered calls today afternoon. Yao showed Reuters his passport and visa, as well as an air ticket for today's flights to Geneva via Munich.

He said three other Chinese rights advocates apparently left without problems to attend the course, provided by the International Service for Human Rights in Geneva.

Reuters' telephone calls to the service were not answered.

The travel blocks on Yao and other rights campaigners, as well as the regular house arrest of dissidents, suggest that as China approaches the party congress and then the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, wary officials are seeking to quieten campaigners who could criticise them abroad.

In May, China barred a prominent AIDS and rights activist Hu Jia and his wife Zeng Jinyan from leaving the country en route to Europe, accusing them of endangering national security.

In February, authorities blocked well-known AIDS doctor Gao Yaojie from going to Washington to collect a rights award for helping expose a hidden epidemic of the disease in central rural China. After criticism from US groups and politicians, Gao was allowed to go.

Yao, 48, has worked within the bounds of the law to encourage independent candidates in legislative elections controlled by the Communist Party.

In past years, his campaigns have been reported in Chinese media, winning him a constant stream of letters and visits from aggrieved citizens hoping for help.

''My personal guess is that they don't want me abroad because they think I've gone too far in exposing sham elections,'' Yao said.

''What I've always wanted is if the party lays down laws, even bad laws, they should be lived up to.'' REUTERS SLD BST1650