Today the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Liu Xiaobo.
BEIJING — Liu Xiaobo, an impassioned literary critic, political essayist and democracy advocate repeatedly jailed by the Chinese government for his activism, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of “his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.”
Mr. Liu, 54, perhaps China’s best known dissident, is serving an 11-year term on subversion charges, in a cell 300 miles from Beijing.
He is one of three people to have received the prize while incarcerated by their own governments, after the Burmese opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in 1991, and the German pacifist, Carl von Ossietzky, in 1935.
By awarding the prize to Mr. Liu, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has provided an unmistakable rebuke to Beijing’s authoritarian leaders at a time of growing intolerance for domestic dissent and a spreading unease internationally over the muscular diplomacy that has accompanied China’s economic rise.
Human Rights Watch has more:
(New York) - The awarding of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize to the Chinese writer and human rights activist Liu Xiaobo underscores the urgent need for rights reforms in China, Human Rights Watch said today.
Human Rights Watch reiterated its longstanding call for the release of Liu, whom a Beijing court sentenced to an 11-year prison term on December 25, 2009. His spurious "subversion" charges stemmed from his role in drafting and circulating Charter '08, an online petition which advocates putting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law at the core of the Chinese political system. Originally signed by 303 Chinese citizens, including rights defenders and legal activists, it has been widely circulated online and has now collected thousands of signatures. Prior to his formal arrest on June 23, 2009, Liu had been held incommunicado since his detention on December 8, 2008.
"This award will no doubt infuriate the Chinese government by putting its human rights record squarely back into the international debate," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. "But this Nobel Prize honors not only Liu's unflinching advocacy; it honors all those in China who struggle daily to make the government more accountable."
Human Rights Watch last week awarded Liu Xiaobo its 2010 Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism.
Human Rights Watch has characterized Liu's arrest as politically motivated, and determined that the conditions of his detention did not meet minimum standards of fairness and due process. A former professor of literature, Liu spent nearly two years in prison following the crackdown on the June 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Following his detention in December 2008, which violated the minimum procedural guarantees specified under Chinese law, a group of prominent signatories, including several Nobel Prize winners, sent an open letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao urging him to secure Liu's release.
Liu's imprisonment is part of wider political hardening in China which began in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Since that time, the government has imposed long prison terms on high-profile dissidents on baseless state secrets or "subversion" charges, expanded restrictions on media and Internet freedom, and tightened controls on lawyers, human rights defenders, and nongovernmental organizations. Since early 2007, the Chinese government has also broadened controls on Uighurs and Tibetans; arbitrary detentions and enforced disappearances swelled both in Xinjiang and Tibet, and the practice of detaining people unlawfully in secret facilities known as "black jails" has continued.
"The Nobel Committee made an important decision this year to highlight a reality few want to acknowledge about China - that its government continues to persecute human rights advocates, lawyers, and journalists," said Richardson. "Liu Xiaobo epitomizes the Nobel Peace Prize ideals by never deviating from his belief in peacefully expressing universal ideals and speaking truth to power."
Human Rights Watch also reiterated its call for the Chinese government to release Liu and other jailed or "disappeared" activists including Hu Jia, Gao Zhisheng, Tan Zuoren and Huang Qi. Liu is arguably the most well-known government critic currently in prison, but he is one among many suffering similar - or worse - persecution.
"The Chinese government should see Liu Xiaobo as the Nobel Committee clearly does: not as an enemy or an embarrassment, but rather as someone whose courageous advocacy embodies the best of China," said Richardson.
Join me today in e-mailing the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC demanding the release of Liu Xiaobo and other political prisoners: [email protected] .
Related Site: Nobel Peace Prize
Update: President Obama has released the following statement:
I welcome the Nobel Committee's decision to award the Nobel Peace Prize to Mr. Liu Xiaobo. Last year, I noted that so many others who have received the award had sacrificed so much more than I. That list now includes Mr. Liu, who has sacrificed his freedom for his beliefs. By granting the prize to Mr. Liu, the Nobel Committee has chosen someone who has been an eloquent and courageous spokesman for the advance of universal values through peaceful and non-violent means, including his support for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law.
As I said last year in Oslo, even as we respect the unique culture and traditions of different countries, America will always be a voice for those aspirations that are universal to all human beings. Over the last 30 years, China has made dramatic progress in economic reform and improving the lives of its people, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty. But this award reminds us that political reform has not kept pace, and that the basic human rights of every man, woman and child must be respected. We call on the Chinese government to release Mr. Liu as soon as possible.
