When the Nobel committee awarded the Peace Award 2010 to jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, his wife, Liu Xia, was totally surprised. He thought that he had exerted diplomatic pressure the Beijing government to prevent her husband from receiving the prize was so strong that they would bear fruit. Not so.
The Norwegian committee resisted and Xia Liu October 8 savored that one of the sweetest moments of his life after years of fear, threats and forced separation from her husband. That same weekend, the police accompanied him to visit him in prison in Jinzhou (Liaoning Province), where her husband is serving 11 years for inciting subversion of state power.
But Xia Liu did not know was that this encounter with the authorities away from the spotlight of international media, was to be the last with her husband in a long time. Beijing's wrath by granting the award to whom he considers "a criminal" and a "separatist" had just condemned to the family of Liu Xiaobo not see him again, and her, to be caught in his home in Beijing, under continuous surveillance, isolated from the world without telephone or Internet.
The Government has erected a wall of silence surrounding the dissident and his family, in what appears an attempt to make the world forget the Nobel Peace uncomfortable. The authorities have refused requests to visit, though, by law, is entitled to a month. Even on the occasion of Chinese New Year holiday, the big family celebration in this country last February, his wife or his brothers were allowed to meet him, says Mo Shaoping, a friend of Liu Xiaobo and director of the firm firm that represents him.
"I have not heard from him since last year. I can not contact his wife. Xia Liu could only visit him once after he announced the prize. The family requested permission for the New Year, but were denied," said Mo. The regime in Beijing seems to think that the less people have access to the winner, less talk and more likely it is that the situation of Nobel melts away into the void, especially in these times of revolutions in the Islamic world, in which the Beijing is less desirable than the figure of defender of democracy retains its shine.
"The authorities have built a wall around it so it can not communicate at all with the world," said Gilles Lordet, research coordinator of the NGO Reporters Without Borders. "His wife is under strict monitoring, under house arrest, because it can be considered the first contact between Liu Xiaobo and the outside world.
When the Chinese authorities to punish human rights defenders, punish the whole family," he says. Xia Liu, 51, is arrested at her home since the award was announced, according to Amnesty International. "It is also a prisoner, although it has not been charged with any crime," said Catherine Baber, deputy Asia-Pacific human rights organization.
If in the first days after the announcement of the award to her husband, may receive some phone calls and communicate over the Internet, this was short lived. His mobile number was deactivated, and the Internet line, cut. His latest tweet was sent on 18 October. Then silence. In late January, Liu Xia, poet and photographer, was a gesture of grace.
Their guards allowed him to have dinner with their parents, coinciding with the official visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States. The move was interpreted as a concession by the Government in response to criticism from Washington about the treatment of Liu Xiaobo and his family.
But was quickly isolated again. In the middle of last month, gave intellectual signs of life again, albeit too ephemeral. On 19 February, the Washington Post reported that Liu Xia had managed to keep a few days before writing a brief conversation over the Internet with a friend, in which he said he felt "very sad" and he was going "crazy." "I've only seen it once," he said in apparent reference to her husband.
"I can not leave. All my family is held hostage. I'm crying. No one can help me." "Liu Xia is an ordinary citizen, has not been charged with anything. What they are doing is illegal. I hope to end this situation as soon as possible. The longer you withhold the worse it is for the international image of China.
I wish that China was a country ruled by law, "said Mo. Her husband, Liu, 55, writer and former teacher, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on December 25, 2009 for posting Internet articles critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and in particular, for leading the drafting of the Charter 08 issued a manifesto Pacific in December 2008 that calls for the establishment of democracy, the end of one-party system, judicial system independent and freedom of association, religion and press.
The paper, inspired by the Charter 77 of Czechoslovakia, which would lead years later, in 1989, the Velvet Revolution that swept the communist regime was initially signed by 300 intellectuals, among them, lawyers, academics, journalists and artists. The significance and impact of the letter shocked the Chinese government, which unleashed a campaign of persecution against the signatories and led to jail his chief ideologue and exemplary punishment.
For Beijing, it was address the root of any movement that might threaten the CCP's absolute power and ensure what he considers the political and social stability necessary to continue economic reforms and the rise of China on the international scene. Hence, when the Nobel committee awarded to Liu Xiaobo, China's leaders reacted with fury.
Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize, said the honor had been awarded for "his long and peaceful struggle for fundamental rights in China", and it was "a sign of support to those fighting in China fundamental human rights ", rights" universal. " Beijing said that the election was "an example arrogant Western ideology," the committee had "violated" the integrity of the Nobel Peace Prize and was an interference in its internal affairs and an attempt to destabilize the country to prevent progress.
According to Jiang Yu, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu was not convicted for his criticism, but "to organize and persuade others to sign (the Charter 08) and promote the overthrow of political authority and social system of China." After the description of her husband, Liu Xia published a letter in which he invited hundreds of intellectuals and defenders of human rights who attended the award ceremony on December 10 in Oslo, but most were arrested, placed under surveillance or intercepted at the airport as they prepared to travel.
The ceremony was held without Liu, whose absence was represented by an empty chair, which has become a powerful symbol. On it, Jagland deposited the diploma. It was the first time in 75 years that neither awarded the Nobel Peace Prize or any of his family could go to pick from that in 1935 the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler was prevented by the pacifist Carl von Ossietzky.
At the meeting they had in October, Liu Xiaobo told his wife he dedicated the award to "lost souls" in the repression of the demonstrations for democracy in Tiananmen (1989) that caused hundreds of deaths, thousands according to some sources . Their struggle for democracy and political change has earned this native of Changchun, capital of the northeastern province of Jilin, many fans inside and outside China.
But detractors. Some, such as university teachers in Hong Kong Sautman Barry and Yan Hairong, say it is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize because "endorsed the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and welcomed the Korean and Vietnam wars retrospectively in an essay of 2001" , they wrote in an article published last December in the British newspaper The Guardian.
In addition, he described as extremely pro-Western. Meanwhile, in the fractured world of China dissident in exile, some of his opponents accuse him of using the path of cooperation with the regime to try to promote a transition to democracy in a "gradual, peaceful, orderly and controllable" according to the words of Liu Xiaobo.
One way in which they do not trust. The wall of silence around marriage Liu is not unique. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a network of activists inside and outside China, says that in China has recently triggered "a new wave of unbridled repression" as a result of appeals in China Jasmine concentrations similar to those of Tunisia and other Islamic countries.
Amnesty International agrees. "The Chinese government has increased the use of harassment, detention and even torture against activists, lawyers, journalists and others who only want the freedom to express your views to government officials accountable for their actions, and participate in what will be his country in the future, "said Baber.
United States this week has shown concern about "the apparent arrest and forced disappearance" and illegal "by some lawyers and best-known Chinese activists," said Philip Crowley, State Department spokesman, who cited in particular the disappearance of professor of law and lawyers Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong Jitian Tang.
Dozens of dissidents have been detained or put under surveillance in recent weeks across the country in response to calls to China's population to manifest every Sunday by anonymous organizers through a U.S. website. Beijing has responded to the revolutions in Arab countries also increased censorship in the media and the Internet, hundreds of police deployed at the sites targeted for protests and movement restrictions on foreign correspondents, who has threatened to expel from the country if they go to report to designated sites for demonstrations.
The arrests are attached to some of the most renowned activists, including Gao Zhisg lawyer, an advocate of sensitive cases are missing for almost a year, or C Guangcg blind activist, detained at his home illegally since he was released from prison last September. C was jailed in 2006 after incurring the wrath of the authorities to reveal numerous cases of forced abortions, forced sterilization and other abuses in their region.
Activists and journalists who have tried to visit him at his home in a rural area of \u200b\u200bShandong Province (east), have been attacked by thugs who control access to the people and have been expelled. Police and security agents beat up C and his wife in early February after leaked a secretly taped video showing the strict conditions under which they are arrested at her home, according CHRD.
In the video feature that more than 60 people who take turns to monitor the housing, and devices to cancel the mobile phone signal. According to C, only allow her mother, 76, buy food and take it. On the tape, his wife, Yuan Weijing, speaks softly about his concern for his two children and break to mourn.
"I dare not speak up," he says. The cases of C and Gao Guangcg Zhisg were mentioned along with that of Liu Xiaobo by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in a speech last January, before the visit of Hu Jintao to Washington. Clinton called for his release. Chinese President in the United States recognized that "China is still much progress in human rights," but said these must be viewed in the context of different national circumstances.
The condemnation of the Nobel Peace prize seems to be part of these circumstances and the attempt to silence his family, too. "The Chinese government probably would like the world of Liu Xiaobo and forget to think of it being a real criminal," said Baber. "But Liu Xiaobo is not a criminal and the world should not forget that he has consistently spoken in favor of a peaceful change in their country, and has only asked the Government to remember that is accountable to its people." 
The Norwegian committee resisted and Xia Liu October 8 savored that one of the sweetest moments of his life after years of fear, threats and forced separation from her husband. That same weekend, the police accompanied him to visit him in prison in Jinzhou (Liaoning Province), where her husband is serving 11 years for inciting subversion of state power.
But Xia Liu did not know was that this encounter with the authorities away from the spotlight of international media, was to be the last with her husband in a long time. Beijing's wrath by granting the award to whom he considers "a criminal" and a "separatist" had just condemned to the family of Liu Xiaobo not see him again, and her, to be caught in his home in Beijing, under continuous surveillance, isolated from the world without telephone or Internet.
The Government has erected a wall of silence surrounding the dissident and his family, in what appears an attempt to make the world forget the Nobel Peace uncomfortable. The authorities have refused requests to visit, though, by law, is entitled to a month. Even on the occasion of Chinese New Year holiday, the big family celebration in this country last February, his wife or his brothers were allowed to meet him, says Mo Shaoping, a friend of Liu Xiaobo and director of the firm firm that represents him.
"I have not heard from him since last year. I can not contact his wife. Xia Liu could only visit him once after he announced the prize. The family requested permission for the New Year, but were denied," said Mo. The regime in Beijing seems to think that the less people have access to the winner, less talk and more likely it is that the situation of Nobel melts away into the void, especially in these times of revolutions in the Islamic world, in which the Beijing is less desirable than the figure of defender of democracy retains its shine.
"The authorities have built a wall around it so it can not communicate at all with the world," said Gilles Lordet, research coordinator of the NGO Reporters Without Borders. "His wife is under strict monitoring, under house arrest, because it can be considered the first contact between Liu Xiaobo and the outside world.
When the Chinese authorities to punish human rights defenders, punish the whole family," he says. Xia Liu, 51, is arrested at her home since the award was announced, according to Amnesty International. "It is also a prisoner, although it has not been charged with any crime," said Catherine Baber, deputy Asia-Pacific human rights organization.
If in the first days after the announcement of the award to her husband, may receive some phone calls and communicate over the Internet, this was short lived. His mobile number was deactivated, and the Internet line, cut. His latest tweet was sent on 18 October. Then silence. In late January, Liu Xia, poet and photographer, was a gesture of grace.
Their guards allowed him to have dinner with their parents, coinciding with the official visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to the United States. The move was interpreted as a concession by the Government in response to criticism from Washington about the treatment of Liu Xiaobo and his family.
But was quickly isolated again. In the middle of last month, gave intellectual signs of life again, albeit too ephemeral. On 19 February, the Washington Post reported that Liu Xia had managed to keep a few days before writing a brief conversation over the Internet with a friend, in which he said he felt "very sad" and he was going "crazy." "I've only seen it once," he said in apparent reference to her husband.
"I can not leave. All my family is held hostage. I'm crying. No one can help me." "Liu Xia is an ordinary citizen, has not been charged with anything. What they are doing is illegal. I hope to end this situation as soon as possible. The longer you withhold the worse it is for the international image of China.
I wish that China was a country ruled by law, "said Mo. Her husband, Liu, 55, writer and former teacher, was sentenced to 11 years in prison on December 25, 2009 for posting Internet articles critical of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and in particular, for leading the drafting of the Charter 08 issued a manifesto Pacific in December 2008 that calls for the establishment of democracy, the end of one-party system, judicial system independent and freedom of association, religion and press.
The paper, inspired by the Charter 77 of Czechoslovakia, which would lead years later, in 1989, the Velvet Revolution that swept the communist regime was initially signed by 300 intellectuals, among them, lawyers, academics, journalists and artists. The significance and impact of the letter shocked the Chinese government, which unleashed a campaign of persecution against the signatories and led to jail his chief ideologue and exemplary punishment.
For Beijing, it was address the root of any movement that might threaten the CCP's absolute power and ensure what he considers the political and social stability necessary to continue economic reforms and the rise of China on the international scene. Hence, when the Nobel committee awarded to Liu Xiaobo, China's leaders reacted with fury.
Thorbjoern Jagland, chairman of the Nobel Peace Prize, said the honor had been awarded for "his long and peaceful struggle for fundamental rights in China", and it was "a sign of support to those fighting in China fundamental human rights ", rights" universal. " Beijing said that the election was "an example arrogant Western ideology," the committee had "violated" the integrity of the Nobel Peace Prize and was an interference in its internal affairs and an attempt to destabilize the country to prevent progress.
According to Jiang Yu, Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu was not convicted for his criticism, but "to organize and persuade others to sign (the Charter 08) and promote the overthrow of political authority and social system of China." After the description of her husband, Liu Xia published a letter in which he invited hundreds of intellectuals and defenders of human rights who attended the award ceremony on December 10 in Oslo, but most were arrested, placed under surveillance or intercepted at the airport as they prepared to travel.
The ceremony was held without Liu, whose absence was represented by an empty chair, which has become a powerful symbol. On it, Jagland deposited the diploma. It was the first time in 75 years that neither awarded the Nobel Peace Prize or any of his family could go to pick from that in 1935 the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler was prevented by the pacifist Carl von Ossietzky.
At the meeting they had in October, Liu Xiaobo told his wife he dedicated the award to "lost souls" in the repression of the demonstrations for democracy in Tiananmen (1989) that caused hundreds of deaths, thousands according to some sources . Their struggle for democracy and political change has earned this native of Changchun, capital of the northeastern province of Jilin, many fans inside and outside China.
But detractors. Some, such as university teachers in Hong Kong Sautman Barry and Yan Hairong, say it is worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize because "endorsed the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, and welcomed the Korean and Vietnam wars retrospectively in an essay of 2001" , they wrote in an article published last December in the British newspaper The Guardian.
In addition, he described as extremely pro-Western. Meanwhile, in the fractured world of China dissident in exile, some of his opponents accuse him of using the path of cooperation with the regime to try to promote a transition to democracy in a "gradual, peaceful, orderly and controllable" according to the words of Liu Xiaobo.
One way in which they do not trust. The wall of silence around marriage Liu is not unique. Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD), a network of activists inside and outside China, says that in China has recently triggered "a new wave of unbridled repression" as a result of appeals in China Jasmine concentrations similar to those of Tunisia and other Islamic countries.
Amnesty International agrees. "The Chinese government has increased the use of harassment, detention and even torture against activists, lawyers, journalists and others who only want the freedom to express your views to government officials accountable for their actions, and participate in what will be his country in the future, "said Baber.
United States this week has shown concern about "the apparent arrest and forced disappearance" and illegal "by some lawyers and best-known Chinese activists," said Philip Crowley, State Department spokesman, who cited in particular the disappearance of professor of law and lawyers Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong Jitian Tang.
Dozens of dissidents have been detained or put under surveillance in recent weeks across the country in response to calls to China's population to manifest every Sunday by anonymous organizers through a U.S. website. Beijing has responded to the revolutions in Arab countries also increased censorship in the media and the Internet, hundreds of police deployed at the sites targeted for protests and movement restrictions on foreign correspondents, who has threatened to expel from the country if they go to report to designated sites for demonstrations.
The arrests are attached to some of the most renowned activists, including Gao Zhisg lawyer, an advocate of sensitive cases are missing for almost a year, or C Guangcg blind activist, detained at his home illegally since he was released from prison last September. C was jailed in 2006 after incurring the wrath of the authorities to reveal numerous cases of forced abortions, forced sterilization and other abuses in their region.
Activists and journalists who have tried to visit him at his home in a rural area of \u200b\u200bShandong Province (east), have been attacked by thugs who control access to the people and have been expelled. Police and security agents beat up C and his wife in early February after leaked a secretly taped video showing the strict conditions under which they are arrested at her home, according CHRD.
In the video feature that more than 60 people who take turns to monitor the housing, and devices to cancel the mobile phone signal. According to C, only allow her mother, 76, buy food and take it. On the tape, his wife, Yuan Weijing, speaks softly about his concern for his two children and break to mourn.
"I dare not speak up," he says. The cases of C and Gao Guangcg Zhisg were mentioned along with that of Liu Xiaobo by Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, in a speech last January, before the visit of Hu Jintao to Washington. Clinton called for his release. Chinese President in the United States recognized that "China is still much progress in human rights," but said these must be viewed in the context of different national circumstances.
The condemnation of the Nobel Peace prize seems to be part of these circumstances and the attempt to silence his family, too. "The Chinese government probably would like the world of Liu Xiaobo and forget to think of it being a real criminal," said Baber. "But Liu Xiaobo is not a criminal and the world should not forget that he has consistently spoken in favor of a peaceful change in their country, and has only asked the Government to remember that is accountable to its people."
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