InfoAnda - Contender for Nobel prize is in Chinese prison

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Curfew in south Kyrgyzstan after 45 killed in clashes | 12 June 2010
US-TECH Summary | 30 June 2010
British Library offers e-classics app for iPad | | 4 August 2011

Naomi Campbell to testify at Taylor war crimes trial | 10 July 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Contender for Nobel prize is in Chinese prison

Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Contender for Nobel prize is in Chinese prison By CARA ANNA,Associated Press Writer - Sunday, October 3 Send IM Story Print BEIJING – When the police came for Liu Xiaobo on a December night nearly two years ago, they didn't tell the dissident author why he was being taken away again. The line in the detention order for his "suspected crime" was left blank. But Liu and the dozen officers who crowded into his dark Beijing apartment knew the reason. He was hours from releasing Charter 08, the China democracy movement's most comprehensive call yet for peaceful reform. The document would be viewed by the ruling Communist Party as a direct challenge to its 60-year monopoly on political power. Liu, who over the past two decades had endured stints in prison and re-education camp, looked at the blank detention notice and lost his temper. "At that moment, I knew the day I was expecting had finally come," his wife, Liu Xia, said recently as she recounted the night of Dec. 8, 2008. Thinking of the Beijing winter, she said she brought him a down coat and cigarettes. The police took the cigarettes away. Liu was sentenced last Christmas Day to 11 years in prison for subversion. The 54-year old literary critic is now a favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize _ in what would be a major embarrassment to the Chinese government. He is the best shot the country's dissident movement has had in winning the prestigious award since it began pushing for democratic change after China's authoritarian leaders launched economic, but not political, reforms three decades ago. Last year the prize was won by President Barack Obama. Other contenders for this year's prize include Zimbabwe Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. In an indication of Beijing's unease, China's deputy foreign minister has warned the Nobel Institute not to give the prize to a Chinese dissident, the director of the Norway-based institute said this week. In another sign of official disapproval, an editorial on Thursday in the state-run Global Times newspaper called Liu a radical and separatist. Chinese police continue to threaten and question some of the more than 300 people who were the first to sign Charter 08, which was co-authored by Liu. Despite the risk, thousands more have signed it since its release. Charter 08 is an echo of Charter 77, the famous call for human rights in then-Czechoslovakia that led to the 1989 Velvet Revolution that swept away the communist regime. The charter for China calls for more freedoms and an end to the Communist Party's political dominance. "The democratization of Chinese politics can be put off no longer," it says. Former peace prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and Charter 77 co-drafter Vaclav Havel have joined those calling for Liu to get the award. Scholars inside and outside China have mounted letter-writing campaigns on his behalf. "If I were the Chinese Communist Party, I would free him now. Release him. Now. So you don't have the humiliation and it's good for everyone," said Jean-Philippe Beja, a China scholar at the Paris-based Center for International Studies and Research and a longtime friend of Liu. The blunt, sometimes earthy Liu is not always liked, even by fellow activists. "He hasn't yet become the kind of inspiring person Mandela is," AIDS activist Wan Yanhai said in a Twitter post this week, referring to the former South African leader, also a Nobel laureate. But Liu is rare among government critics in China for being well-known not just among the dissident movement but among the wider public too. "Across the spectrum, Chinese intellectuals and students have high respect for Liu Xiaobo," said Andrew Nathan, a professor at Columbia University in New York who once sponsored Liu as a visiting scholar. "The award of the prize ... would be viewed by most as an act friendly to China." It was not the same when the Tibet-born Dalai Lama was awarded the peace prize in 1989. Not just the Chinese government but some of the public too were angry over the win by the exiled Buddhist leader _ regarded as a traitor by officialdom for his calls for more autonomy for Tibet. Liu first drew attention in 1986, when he criticized Chinese writers' "childish" obsession with the Nobel Prize. Two years later, he became a visiting scholar in Oslo, where the peace prize is awarded. There, in his first time outside China, his writings became more political. "Perhaps my personality means that I'll crash into brick walls wherever I go," Liu wrote from Oslo to Geremie Barme, a China scholar at Australian National University. "I can accept it all, even if in the end I crack my skull open." Liu cut short a visiting scholar stint at Columbia University months later to join the Tiananmen Square protests in Beijing in 1989. He and three other older activists famously persuaded students to peacefully leave the square hours before the deadly June 4 crackdown. "I remember clearly the difficulty and pain Liu Xiaobo and his comrades-in-arms _ raised as they had been with the most radical type of an education _ experienced in reaching this decision, one which only later was understood to have saved the lives of several hundred students," Xu Youyu, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, recently wrote in a public letter supporting Liu for the peace prize. Liu went to prison after the crackdown and was released in early 1991 because he had repented and "performed major meritorious services," state media said at the time, without elaborating. The bloody Tiananmen experience made Liu less radical, said Zhou Duo, a friend on the square. "He used to be impetuous, but he changed a lot after June 4," Zhou said. "He became more rational and mild. He criticized the Communist Party, but he preferred having good exchanges between government and the opposition about politics and democracy." Still, five years later Liu was sent to a re-education camp for three years for co-writing an open letter that demanded the impeachment of then-President Jiang Zemin. Liu emerged from that sentence in 1999 to find the Internet age. He resisted the new medium of communication at first, but eventually called the Internet "God's present to China." Now Liu only writes a diary and letters to his wife, which she keeps private. His family can visit him in prison, but they can't talk about his case or world events, and officials stand by taking notes. His wife said the couple had never imagined Liu winning the peace prize. "I can always predict when bad things are about to happen," she said, "but I can never totally believe that good things can become a reality." ___ Associated Press writer Isolda Morillo contributed to this report. Recommend Send IM Story Print Related Articles Japan FM downplays 'bad neighbour' label on China AFP - 36 minutes ago Poverty still stalks resource-rich Mongolia AFP - 37 minutes ago Indonesia police kill five suspected militants AFP - 1 hour 6 minutes ago CGames: D-Day arrives for fortress Delhi AFP - 1 hour 14 minutes ago Libya releases S.Korea pastor, diplomacy row ebbs AFP - 1 hour 53 minutes ago News Search Top Stories US contemplating travel alert for Europe Foreclosures bungle could hit US banks Mix of sadness, triumph as Brazil's Lula makes his exit China's Wen calls on EU to help it reform financial system Bazil's Petrobras expands capitalization to 71.6 bln dollars More Top Stories » ADVERTISEMENT Most Popular Most Viewed Most Recommended Brake problem forces BMW, Rolls-Royce recall Schwarzenegger, California lawmakers in budget deal IMF urges cooperation to prevent 'currency war' Mix of sadness, triumph as Brazil's Lula makes his exit China launches second lunar probe More Most Viewed » US state executes first woman in nearly 100 years 'Time bomb' superbug requires global response: doctor Workers swarm Europe's streets in anti-cuts protests More Most Recommended » Elsewhere on Yahoo! Financial news on Yahoo! Finance Stars and latest movies Best travel destinations More on Yahoo! News Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Subscribe to our news feeds Top StoriesMy Yahoo!RSS » More news feeds | What are news feeds? Also on Yahoo! Answers Groups Mail Messenger Mobile Travel Finance Movies Sports Games » All Yahoo! Services Site Highlights Singapore Full Coverage Most Popular Asia Entertainment Photos World Cup 2010 Yahoo! News Network Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - Community - Intellectual Property Rights Policy - Help

Other News on Sunday, 3 October 2010
No talks until Israel halts settlements
Italian protestors call for Berlusconi's resignation
Rousseff ends Brazil campaign in Lula heartland |
Bazil's Petrobras expands capitalization to 71.6 bln dollars
Armed gang kidnaps group near Acapulco's tourist strip |
Discovery of New Earth-Like Planet Triggers Huge Web Search
Iran says several held for spying on nuclear sites |
Ecuador's Correa to purge rebel police, probe foes |
N.Korea seeks talks with South on resuming tours
Whitman looks to regain momentum in second debate
Labor, civil rights groups rally on Mall
Grand jury indicts accused California kidnappers
NJ student's suicide resonates on campus, beyond
Photos show US soldiers posing with Afghan corpses
Minimum and maximum global temperatures
Sonia Rykiel takes 'Golden Brown' trip to 70s
Put a shirt on with Viktor and Rolf
US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary
Countries reach tentative anti-counterfeiting pact
US novelist Franzen hit by UK recall
UK govt to scrap 'no touch' rule for teachers
Greece picks up Chinese support as Wen visits
Druidry recognised as religion in Britain
Warner, MGM near approving Hobbit film: report |
Boosters hope Alaska will be Hollywood Far North |
2 NATO service members killed in Afghanistan
No talks until Israel halts settlements, PLO says |
Hope for change as Pope visits Mafia heartland
Australia's PM makes surprise visit to Afghanistan
Lula's pick favored as Brazil votes for president |
Bosnians vote amid pessimism and divisions |
Iran says several held for spying on nuclear sites
US contemplating travel alert for Europe
Foreclosures bungle could hit US banks
Syria's Assad rebuffs Washington by courting Iran
Ecuador's Correa backs off dissolving Congress |
Mix of sadness, triumph as Brazil's Lula makes his exit
China's Wen calls on EU to help it reform financial system
Mexico probing Acapulco tourist kidnapping report |
Fidel Castro may visit Venezuela, Chavez says |
Paraguayan leader's health stable after treatment |
Australian PM visits Afghanistan
DC rally shows support for struggling Democrats
Warner, MGM near approving "Hobbit" film: report
China's Hu pledges strong ties with new N.Korea leadership
Boosters hope Alaska will be "Hollywood Far North"
Japan-based Lee new WBA super bantamweight champion
Jankovic, Date Krumm advance at China Open
Contender for Nobel prize is in Chinese prison
China hopes 'eco-city' will prove a model alternative
Beth Ditto brings Jean Paul Gaultier XXL appeal
Italian architect unveils new wing at US art museum
Greece picks up Chinese support as Wen visits
Thousands march in S.Africa against gay discrimination
Vigorous Exercise Shown To Reduce Risk of Breast Cancer In African Americans
CNN Fires Rick Sanchez Over Racist Comments
Warner, MGM near approving "Hobbit" film: report
Armored Truck Security Guard Gunned Down in Heist
Photographer Larry Clark attacks age limit on his Paris show
Boosters hope Alaska will be "Hollywood Far North"
Indonesian police probe deadly train crash
Afghanistan begins disbanding private security firms |
Bosnian voters hope elections will bring change
Police Horses Struck By Car
Grenade attack in Mexico injures 12 people |
US contemplating travel alert for Europe
U.S. Apologizes For Giving Guatemalans STDs
Iraq crackdown on bombers brings silenced killings |
U.S. Issues Alert for People Traveling to Europe
Young Boy Killed In House Fire During Religious Ceremony
Latvia PM wins election |
Palestinians want peace talks to continue: US envoy
German president welcomes Islam during unity speech |
Thai queen leaves hospital after heart scare
US has 'dragged the world in mud' says Ahmadinejad
Civilians among dead in Afghanistan strike: police |
C'weath Games set to open after shambolic run-up
Suspected Muslim separatists kill 3 Thai soldiers |
Building collapse kills eight in China
Indonesia police kill six suspected militants
Japan FM downplays 'bad neighbour' label on China
Poverty still stalks resource-rich Mongolia
Libya releases S.Korea pastor, diplomacy row ebbs
Fiji military regime arrests opposition leader
Philippines to acquire aircraft from Italy, Poland
Most British teachers have thought about quitting
Europe, Asia leaders gather as Japan-China row lurks
TV industry show hails smartphone, Facebook era
Time for new 'gold standard', says star French chef Ducasse
China-Africa 2010 trade 'to top $100 bln'
Saudi women fight for control of their marital fate
New York opera houses woo new fans with edgier fare |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01