Guest Comments by the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group

HONG KONG – Recently, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is Liu Xiaobo, a renowned Beijing writer and a co-drafter of Charter 08. We congratulate Liu for being the first Chinese person awarded such a prestigious honor.

While sharing the honor, we feel ashamed of the Chinese government for sentencing Liu to an 11-year prison term for so-called “inciting subversion of state power”. We strongly urge China's government to immediately release Liu and all prisoners of conscience and arrested dissidents.

Liu was imprisoned simply because he co-drafted and co-signed Charter 08 and wrote six articles criticizing the government. Once released, the charter was co-signed by more than 10,000 people. Many signatories are human-rights lawyers and legal academics.

Not only were those who initiated and co-drafted Charter 08 targeted by the Chinese government, but those who celebrated Liu's peace-prize win were harassed too. On the day of the award announcement, Beijing legal academic and famous human-rights defender Xu Zhiyong and about 20 rights defenders gathered for celebrations. They held up banners with slogans saying “Congratulations to Liu Xiaobo” and “Long Live Freedom”. They were accused of “obstructing public order” and taken to the public-security bureau. Later, Xu was released, but several people remained in detention. We condemn such violations of China's constitution that says citizens have the right to freedom of expression and assembly.

Before the announcement, Chinese vice-foreign-minister Fu Ying asked the Nobel Committee not to give the award to Liu. Responding to the result, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said it may harm China-Norway relations. We condemn the Chinese government's efforts to interfere with the Nobel Committee's decision as an insult to the Nobel Peace Prize.

After the award announcement, Liu's wife, Liu Xia, lost contact with the outside world. On Twitter, she revealed she had been placed under house arrest and couldn't use her mobile phone.

The Nobel Committee said it awarded the prize to Liu “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”. We see symbolic meaning in the decision. Liu receives the prize by representing many individuals in China who have strived for human rights and justice in non-violent ways. We believe the prize will be a driving force for China's democratic development. It's a big encouragement to mainland Chinese human-rights defenders who seek improvements despite oppression.

We reiterate that the Chinese government should release Liu and other dissidents immediately. It should stop harassing human-rights lawyers and human-rights defenders.

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