Just heard Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, who was China's most prominent human rights and democracy advocate, has died aged 61.
International Tibet Network Statement on the Death of Liu Xiaobo 13 July 2017:
Staff of the International Tibet Network Secretariat are devastated to hear that Liu Xiaobo has died less than 3 weeks after news emerged that he had liver cancer. Despite considerable international pressure, Xi Jinping refused to allow Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, to travel overseas for medical treatment or palliative care.
“This is a tragedy of massive proportions” said Tenzin Jigdal, International Tibet Network’s International Coordinator. “China has lost one of the greatest champions for a democratic future; the international community has lost an inspirational advocate of social responsibility, and the Tibet movement has lost a true friend. We are appalled at the inhumane refusal of China’s leaders to allow Liu Xiaobo to obtain timely medical care and taste real freedom, and we send our deepest condolences to Liu Xia and all Liu Xiaobo’s family and friends.”
Liu Xiaobo was China’s best known dissident and only Nobel Peace Laureate. When he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2010, Tibet Network said that the Nobel Committee had “illuminated the human and political rights of the people in China and Tibet and created a sense of hope.” Speaking today, Executive Director Alison Reynolds said: “We call on governments around the world to make sure that sense of hope does not die along with Liu Xiaobo. FIrst and foremost, world leaders must jointly and robustly press China to allow Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia and brother-in-law Liu Hui to go wherever they wish, and they must firmly hold China to account for Liu Xiaobo’s detention and late diagnosis of cancer”.
Liu Xiaobo has been, and will remain, a powerful symbol of China’s appalling record of detaining citizens that participate in discussions about democracy and freedom and its treatment of political prisoners. Two years ago Chinese officials acknowledged verbally to a trusted source that Liu Xiaobo, Tibetan Buddhist leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti were the “top three” political prisoners. Two of these three – Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Liu Xiaobo – are now dead , an appalling indictment of China’s treatment of political detainees.
“Our Governments must not allow any decrease in attention and pressure on China in the aftermath of Liu Xiaobo’s demise; rather the reverse,” said Mandie McKeown, Tibet Network’s Campaigns Coordinator. “To honour him, efforts must be redoubled to secure the release of all human rights defenders held in Chinese detention; Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur and more. The international community simply cannot allow China to brush this under the carpet and must push China to take urgent, meaningful strides to reform the current political and human rights abuses that are so prevalent”.
Prominent among the many prisoners that world governments should be taking action on are Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, Tibetans Tashi Wangchuk and Yeshe Choedron, Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong and Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai.
Liu Xiaobo had been a long time supporter of Tibet, openly expressing support for greater freedom for the Tibetan people and championing democratic reform in China. In 1996 he was sentenced to three years in a labour camp for writing a joint letter to China’s then President Jiang Zemin supporting Tibetan self-determination and calling for dialogue with the Dalai Lama and is believed to be the first Chinese person to be sentenced for speaking up for Tibet. In March 2008, as the Tibetan Plateau was swept by uprisings, he was a co-author and signatory of “Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation”.
Liu Xiaobo’s 11-year prison sentence was handed down a year after his arrest on 8 December 2008 for his part in writing and promoting ‘Charter 08’, which calls for legal reforms, democracy and protection of human rights in China. Before his sentencing he said in his ‘Final Statement’, “Freedom of expression is the basis of human rights, the source of humanity and the mother of truth. To block freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, to strangle humanity and to suppress the truth.”
R I P Liu Xiaobo. Thank you for standing up and speaking out for human
rights.I salute your courage.
International Tibet Network Statement on the Death of Liu Xiaobo 13 July 2017:
Staff of the International Tibet Network Secretariat are devastated to hear that Liu Xiaobo has died less than 3 weeks after news emerged that he had liver cancer. Despite considerable international pressure, Xi Jinping refused to allow Liu Xiaobo and his wife, Liu Xia, to travel overseas for medical treatment or palliative care.
“This is a tragedy of massive proportions” said Tenzin Jigdal, International Tibet Network’s International Coordinator. “China has lost one of the greatest champions for a democratic future; the international community has lost an inspirational advocate of social responsibility, and the Tibet movement has lost a true friend. We are appalled at the inhumane refusal of China’s leaders to allow Liu Xiaobo to obtain timely medical care and taste real freedom, and we send our deepest condolences to Liu Xia and all Liu Xiaobo’s family and friends.”
Liu Xiaobo was China’s best known dissident and only Nobel Peace Laureate. When he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in December 2010, Tibet Network said that the Nobel Committee had “illuminated the human and political rights of the people in China and Tibet and created a sense of hope.” Speaking today, Executive Director Alison Reynolds said: “We call on governments around the world to make sure that sense of hope does not die along with Liu Xiaobo. FIrst and foremost, world leaders must jointly and robustly press China to allow Liu Xiaobo’s wife Liu Xia and brother-in-law Liu Hui to go wherever they wish, and they must firmly hold China to account for Liu Xiaobo’s detention and late diagnosis of cancer”.
Liu Xiaobo has been, and will remain, a powerful symbol of China’s appalling record of detaining citizens that participate in discussions about democracy and freedom and its treatment of political prisoners. Two years ago Chinese officials acknowledged verbally to a trusted source that Liu Xiaobo, Tibetan Buddhist leader Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti were the “top three” political prisoners. Two of these three – Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and Liu Xiaobo – are now dead , an appalling indictment of China’s treatment of political detainees.
“Our Governments must not allow any decrease in attention and pressure on China in the aftermath of Liu Xiaobo’s demise; rather the reverse,” said Mandie McKeown, Tibet Network’s Campaigns Coordinator. “To honour him, efforts must be redoubled to secure the release of all human rights defenders held in Chinese detention; Chinese, Tibetan, Uyghur and more. The international community simply cannot allow China to brush this under the carpet and must push China to take urgent, meaningful strides to reform the current political and human rights abuses that are so prevalent”.
Prominent among the many prisoners that world governments should be taking action on are Uyghur scholar Ilham Tohti, Tibetans Tashi Wangchuk and Yeshe Choedron, Chinese human rights lawyer Jiang Tianyong and Hong Kong bookseller Gui Minhai.
Liu Xiaobo had been a long time supporter of Tibet, openly expressing support for greater freedom for the Tibetan people and championing democratic reform in China. In 1996 he was sentenced to three years in a labour camp for writing a joint letter to China’s then President Jiang Zemin supporting Tibetan self-determination and calling for dialogue with the Dalai Lama and is believed to be the first Chinese person to be sentenced for speaking up for Tibet. In March 2008, as the Tibetan Plateau was swept by uprisings, he was a co-author and signatory of “Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation”.
Liu Xiaobo’s 11-year prison sentence was handed down a year after his arrest on 8 December 2008 for his part in writing and promoting ‘Charter 08’, which calls for legal reforms, democracy and protection of human rights in China. Before his sentencing he said in his ‘Final Statement’, “Freedom of expression is the basis of human rights, the source of humanity and the mother of truth. To block freedom of speech is to trample on human rights, to strangle humanity and to suppress the truth.”
R I P Liu Xiaobo. Thank you for standing up and speaking out for human
rights.I salute your courage.