When was liu xiaobo jailed

The human rights defender had been initially detained on 8 December for his role in drafting Charter 08, a manifesto calling for political reform and human rights. For more than two decades Liu Xiaobo persisted in peacefully advocating for greater human rights and political reform in China, knowing that each time he put his name to a new essay or circulated a new petition articulating these views he was running the risk of arrest and imprisonment.

In Liu Xiaobo left the safety of his position as a visiting scholar in Colombia University in order to return to Beijing and involve himself in the student protests taking place that year.

After joining in a hunger strike with student leaders he later played a key role in persuading remaining students to peacefully leave Tiananmen Square as soldiers advanced with orders to clear the area. On 6 June he was arrested for his role in the Tiananmen movement and spent nearly two years in prison.

He was also fired from his position as a professor in Beijing Normal University. Unbowed by his time in prison, Liu Xiaobo continued to speak out and in was sentenced to three years re-education through labour for criticising China's one party political system.

It was while he was serving this sentence that he married photographer and intellectual Liu Xia, who today remains under strict house arrest and cut off from the outside world solely because of her association with Liu Xiaobo.

Liu Xiaobo's second term in prison, combined with increased surveillance and harassment did little to dissuade him from continuing to highlight human rights abuses and call for political reform. He was arrested in for his involvement with Charter 08 and setenced the following year to over a decade in prison.

In he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China". Liu Xiaobo is a human rights defender whose courage has been demonstrated by his willingness to insist on greater rights for others while putting himself at serious risk. Activate your network and share this story. Case History: Liu Xiaobo. About Liu Xiaobo. Liu Xia, his wife, has been under house arrest since her husband won and has reportedly suffered from depression due to her isolation.

She has not been formally charged with a crime despite her nearly seven years in detention. Liu Xia may not know her husband is sick, Mo said, as he has been unable to contact her. A literary critic and scholar , Liu was previously jailed for two years in the wake of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests and subsequent massacre.

The prize infuriated the Chinese government and relations with Norway quickly deteriorated. The statement was signed by a number of high-profile writers, including Margaret Atwood and Ian Rankin.

Her movements have remained restricted ever since, with no explanation from the Chinese authorities. In June , with three years left of his sentence, Chinese authorities said Mr Liu had been diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. He died weeks later, at the age of Pleas for him to leave China for medical care were rejected by Beijing, on the grounds that he was too ill to travel. In his statement in , Liu Xiaobo said he had "no enemies".

He said he had felt respect from prosecutors who went on to imprison and silence him. Prison conditions, he said, had improved since his previous incarceration and management had become more humane. He noted in particular the kindness of one prison officer. These changes, he said, made him hopeful about his country's future; that China would in the end become a free nation "ruled by law, where human rights reign supreme". He said he did not regret having spoken out.

If charges are brought against me because of this, I have no complaints. Liu Xiaobo: 20 years of activism. Charter A call for change in China.

One year on: Nobel winner Liu Xiaobo still in jail. Liu Xia speaks out through poetry. Liu Xiaobo: Thorn in China's side. China laureate's wife 'depressed'. The Nobel Peace Prize's empty chair. Image source, EPA. Image source, Reuters. Liu Xiaobo was the "foremost symbol" of China's human rights struggle, the Nobel committee said.