On Sunday a jailed Chinese man who was just awarded the Nobel Prize was finally able to meet his wife. A day earlier he was notified of the award by his jailers. He was very emotional and said he would dedicate the prize to award the victims of the 1989 military crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The Nobel committee chose him because of his over twenty years of advicating human rights and peaceful democratic change. These acts ranged from demonstrations for democracy at Tiananmen Square in 1989 to a public display of political reform in 2008 that was the cause of his current arrest. This man's wife, Liu Xia, wanted to meet with him on Friday after the Nobel announcement, but she was refused until Sunday. Now there is controversy between the country that gave out the award, Norway, and China. People in the pursecuted communites are cheering and other countries including the United States and Germany have called for the man's (Liu Xiaobo) release. Beijing in response was very angry. They warned Norway that its government relations would suffer because they awarded someone the Nobel Prize who is a criminal in the eyes of Beijing's government. Liu Xiaobo is a 54 year old man and is in his 2nd year of an 11 year prison term. The news of his award was kept secret by China's state-controlled media. They also forbade Liu Ziaobo's wife from telling him of his nomination for the award in her visit in September. She was also put on house arrest on Friday when the award was announced and she couldn't make or receive calls on her cell phone either. In response to this, a Washington-based legal rights association pleaded world leaders to call for her release. Then she had to negotiate with the police to visit her husband and tell him the news. The police escourted her until other policemen put up a road block about 1.5 miles from the prison. It was removed on Sunday, but Chinese authorities are still putting pressure on activists and Liu's supporters. Some the most prominent activist lawyers are being harrassed by police as they are trying to use to award to patch up differences amoungst themselves. On Sunday there was a group of 20 protestors in Hong Kong who celebrated his prize by drinking champagne and eating Norwegian salmon in front of the Chinese government's local liaison office while they demanded release of Liu Xiaobo and his followers. Now his wife's plan is to go to Norway to get the Nobel medal and the $1.5 million prize money.
When I first read this story, it completely shocked me. I guess I didn't realize that these things still happen today. Here is a man who has stood up for what he believes in, and has tried to make changes in peaceful ways, and he gets put in jail. As far as I know, he has never hurt a soul. The Chinese government has put him in jail because they must believe he is a threat to how they want to run the country. It's not right. I'm very glad that Norway was brave enough to see the courage in this man, Liu Xiaobo, and award him the Nobel Prize. From what I have learned in the article, he sounds like he was very deserving of it if he was willing to give up his own freedom in order to try to gain more freedom and fairness for others. It's really sad if the government relations between Norway and China suffer because of this, but they probably will. I think China need to re-examine their current policies and take into consideration the protests this man has made and the calls they have been recieving from other countries for his release. The man in my eyes definitely deserves to be freed. This whole situation reminds me of Martin Luther King, Jr and how he was put in jail many times for his peaceful protests and attempts for civil rights. Parts of our government were not pleased with him at the time, but because of his bravery and hard work he helped make our country into the one it is today with equal rights for people of every race. In the same way, hopefully the efforts of this Chinese man, Liu Xiaobo, will also create positive change in China for the future too.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39600507/ns/world_news-asiapacific/
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