09/10/10: Chinese activist Nobel prize |
Calls for the release of Liu Xiabo
16 October
More than 100 Chinese writers, lawyers and activists and the Tibetan poet and blogger Woeser published an open letter urging the Chinese government to release political prisoners including Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiabo.
"We call upon the authorities to release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience who are in detention for reasons such as their speech, their political views, or their religious beliefs. We ask that legal procedures aimed at freeing Liu Xiaobo be undertaken without delay, and that Liu and his wife be permitted to travel to Oslo to accept the Nobel peace prize."
Communist party elders call for freedom of press and speech
13 October
Just days after Liu Xiabo won the Nobel Peace Prize (see below), a group of former senior Chinese Communist Party officials signed an open letter calling for freedom of speech and press and the end to the government’s elaborate censorship apparatus.
The letter addressed to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress was published on an internet site days ahead of an important Party meeting this week which is expected to shape policy for the next few years.
Among the signatories are Li Rui, the former secretary to Mao Zedong, Hu Jiwei, former director of Peoples' Daily, and Li Pu, ex-deputy director of Xinhua news agency, the government’s mouthpiece.
The letter accuses the Chinese government of ignoring the Chinese constitution which guarantees basic rights such as freedom of expression, press and speech.
"Even the premier of our country does not have freedom of speech or of the press," the authors state in the letter referring to the Chinese media omitting Premier Wen's statements on greater political openness in a CNN interview earlier in September. Wen stated in the interview that demands for “democracy and freedom are irresistible”.
Twitter users are reporting that the letter is being removed from sites in China at an alarming speed.
The key demands of the letter are:
• Dismantle the system where media organisations are all tied to higher authorities
• Respect journalists, accept their social status
• Abolish cyber-police; control Web administrators' ability to delete/post items at will
• Confirm citizens' right to know crimes and mistakes committed by ruling party
• Launch pilot projects to support citizen-owned media organisations
• Allow media and publications from Hong Kong and Macau to be openly distributed
• Change the mission of propaganda authorities, from preventing the leak of information to facilitating its accurate and timely spread.
9 October
Human rights activist receives Nobel Peace Prize
Liu Xiabo, a Chinese democracy activist serving an 11-year jail sentence for subversion has won the Nobel Peace Prize on 8 October.
Mr Liu, 54, a former university professor was a key leader in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. He was arrested for his role in organising Charter 08, a pro-democracy petition published on 1 December 2008. The charter calls for political reform in China including for multi-party system and human rights. The manifesto was signed by 303 activists.
Liu was imprisoned for 18 months for his role in organising the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and spent three years in a labour camp in the 1990s after he continued to publish articles critical of the government.
China has angrily condemned the decision calling Mr Liu a "criminal". China tried to stop the award saying the award violated Nobel principles warning it would damage relations with Norway. It has now cancelled an upcoming trade meeting with Norway.
US President Barack Obama and other world leaders have called for Mr Liu's release.
Liu’s wife, Liu Xia spoke out about her husband to the media and was allowed to meet him after the announcement of the award on Friday. However, since the weekend she has been placed under house arrest and communications with her are severed.
Free Tibet believes this is a courageous decision by the Committee to award Liu Xiabo in the face of undue pressure from China in its attempt to silence human rights defenders. The international community must follow their lead and stand firm on human rights in its relations with China.
Read the Dalai Lama's statement
Read the White House's statement
