Jailed China activist barred from seeing family on birthday: wife

Jailed Chinese rights campaigner Hu Jia is in deteriorating health and police have barred relatives from seeing him on his birthday on Friday, the activist's wife has written on her blog.

Police also prevented AFP reporters on Thursday from visiting his wife, Zeng Jinyan, despite China's promises to allow foreign journalists freedom to report in the lead up to the Beijing Olympics.

The police action comes amid reports of a steady stream of arrests of dissidents and rights activists in the run-up to next month's Games.

Zeng, who is confined to their small home in the "Bobo Freedom Village" apartment complex in Beijing with the couple's nine-month-old baby, wrote on her blog that in a July 9 visit with Hu, he showed possible signs of anaemia.

"His life in prison has been hard on him. His gums and fingernails are either white or pale," wrote Zeng, who is aged in her 20s.

"I told the prison that I wished I could provide him with multi-vitamins and do medical checks to prevent his condition worsening or the onset of anaemia."

Hu, who turns 35 on Friday, had for years been one of China's highest-profile human rights campaigners, actively disseminating information about abuses.

He was taken into custody last December and sentenced in April, after a one-day trial, to three-and-a-half years in prison on charges of inciting subversion of the state.

Rights groups have said Hu's case is part of a wave of arrests by the communist government, in defiance of its Olympic promises, aimed at silencing critics of China's record on human rights and political freedoms.

The government has denied such accusations.

Two AFP reporters who responded to Zeng's emailed invitation to visit her on Thursday to discuss Hu's situation were barred entry by plainclothes police.

Officers slammed shut a gate leading to her flat and drew a well-worn police tape across it.

They refused to budge when shown a copy of Olympic reporting regulations issued by China that guarantees foreign reporters freedom to interview any Chinese citizen who consents.

"I don't know about that legal stuff. I'm a commoner," said the apparent leader of the eight-person security detail.

China has vowed not to impede foreign reporting in the run-up to and during the August 8-24 Games.

However, foreign journalists frequently report obstructions, particularly when covering human rights and other sensitive topics.

Hu, who is in prison in Tianjin, a city near Beijing, suffers from cirrhosis of the liver. His lawyers have complained previously that he was being denied his medication.

Zeng said in her blog that police had denied permission for her, Hu's mother, and his sister to visit him on his birthday.

"Police said they were too busy to arrange it," she said.

AFP attempts to obtain the prison's phone number failed, with operators saying it was confidential.