Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo languishes in Chinese prison

Although he probably hasn’t received word of his recognition, Liu Xiaobo was announced as the winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Friday. Liu is a renowned academic in China. But his outspoken positions on human rights have landed him in jail. In awarding Liu Xiaobo the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel committee sent an undeniable message to the Chinese government that it must get its human rights house in order.

Tiananmen Square leader ends up being Nobel laureate

Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo is presently serving an 11-year sentence for subversion. The New York Times reports that by awarding the prize to Liu, the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave substance to an international rebuke of Beijing’s growing intolerance of dissent. The Chinese Foreign Ministry referred to Liu as a “criminal,” called his award a “desecration” of the Nobel Peace Prize and said it would damage Norwegian-Chinese relations. There are many arrests and harassments towards Liu since 1989. He began the hunger strike in Tiananmen then which ended with students backing off to keep safe from the soldiers ready to strike.

Might also avoid the terrible history of Nobel laureates

Numerous Nobel Peace Prize winners have been in jail while receiving their award making Liu Xiaobo no exception. The first Nobel Peace laureate that had been in jail when getting their prize was anti-Nazi journalist Carl von Ossietzky who was, in the mid-1930s, in Hitler’s Germany prison, reports CNN. Many of these people, including Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Aung Kyi and Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, weren’t able to get their awards in person and neither will he unless he is let out in December to receive the award in Oslo.

Liu getting a Nobel means something else

While the world has engaged with China as its economy booms, Gady Epstein at Forbes said most countries have looked away as Beijing has brutally suppressed dissent. Epstein writes that many Chinese dissidents who westerners have never heard of are being locked away for “peaceful, noble and brave actions.”. A previous Nobel contender was human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng. He ended up in jail without a word out making him lose that spot. The Nobel for Liu could change some things within the Chinese government. It might choose that its people deserve the freedom that comes with such a great economy.

Articles cited

CNN

edition.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/10/08/nobel.prize.detainees/?hpt=C1

New York Times

nytimes.com/2010/10/09/world/09nobel.html?_r=1 and amp;hp

Forbes

/blogs.forbes.com/gadyepstein/2010/10/08/what-liu-xiaobo-and-the-nobel-peace-prize-stand-for/