Liu’s death ‘political murder’
"We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill." Berit Reiss-andersen, chair, Norwegian Nobel Committee
CHINA: Beijing is accused of bearing a ‘‘heavy responsibility’’ for the ‘‘premature’’ death of Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel peace laureate and China’s most well-known political prisoner.
Liu died at a heavily guarded hospital yesterday after a battle with liver cancer. The death of the 61-year-old dissident and veteran of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 sent shockwaves through China’s activist community and human rights campaigners around the world.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was ‘‘deeply sad’’ at Liu’s death.
‘‘Liu Xiaobo should have been allowed to choose his own medical treatment overseas, which the Chinese authorities repeatedly denied him,’’ he said. ‘‘This was wrong, and I now urge them to lift all restrictions on his widow, Liu Xia.’’
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Liu was a ‘‘courageous fighter’’, while the leader of the Norwegian Nobel Committee accused the Chinese government of having a ‘‘heavy responsibility for his premature death’’.
‘‘We find it deeply disturbing that Liu Xiaobo was not transferred to a facility where he could receive adequate medical treatment before he became terminally ill,’’ Berit Reiss-andersen said.
United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed condolences over Liu’s death, and called on Beijing to release Liu Xia and allow her to leave China.
Liu Xiaobo, who was jailed in 2009 for state subversion, was transferred from prison to a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang last month. Despite increasingly desperate calls from his supporters for him to be granted his dying wish to receive treatment for his condition abroad, he remained in China.
Liu’s friends claim China’s refusal to allow him to travel overseas was a deliberate attempt to shorten his life, to ensure he could not criticise Beijing in his final moments.
‘‘I think it is a political murder,’’ said Hu Jia, an activist and friend of Liu.
‘‘I am in so much pain, but I have no more tears to shed, as I have already cried too much over the past few days. I was expecting him to be taken away from his hospital bed, but no miracle happened.’’
Liu was handed an 11-year prison term for calling for sweeping political reforms in a manifesto titled Charter 08. He became only the third person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize while imprisoned by his own government, and the first to die in custody since tuberculosis killed Carl von Ossietzky, 48, a German pacifist, in 1938.
Liu had spent time in prison in China before 2009, and was already the country’s most famous government critic when he was sentenced for his part in Charter 08.
He became a global figure when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, at a ceremony where he was represented by an empty chair. The award was made in recognition of Liu’s ‘‘long and nonviolent struggle for fundamental human rights in China’’.
Beijing had repeatedly dismissed foreign criticism of its treatment of Liu, saying it was an internal affair.
Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch, said: ‘‘The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty and callousness are shocking - but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on.’’
Liu was born to an intellectual family in Jilin province in northeast China. The former professor of literature at Beijing Normal University wrote about the value of individual freedoms and non-violent resistance.
He was influential at the Tiananmen Square protests, which ended when tanks rolled into the square in central Beijing, killing hundreds of protesters, and possibly over a thousand.
Liu was said to have saved the lives of many students when he negotiated between the army and the protesters as they ended their occupation of the square.
Chinese police have kept Liu Xia under house arrest for several years, and activists in China are now concerned for her fate. Calls for her to be given her freedom were also made by Jean-yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister.
Mo Shaoping, Liu’s lawyer, said: ‘‘I do not know what Liu Xia will do next, but based on my understanding, she wants to leave for another country where she can live the rest of her life.’’
- Telegraph Group