October 10, 2014
For Immediate Release
New York – Brussels – Geneva – Paris: In an open letter that Nobel Peace Prize Laureates together with major human-rights organizations addressed to the United Nations and the European Union today called for the immediate release of Dr. Liu Xiaobo, 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, currently in prison in China and the lifting of the severe restrictions against his spouse, Liu Xia, well known poet and artist. Mairead Maguire, Arch. Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams, and Shirin Ebadi expressed their strong indignation regarding the continuous imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo and their dismay for the situation of Liu Xia who is still under house arrest, in absence of any legal grounds.
Joined by Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom Now, the Human Rights Foundation, the Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Act for Human Rights (ADH), the French League for Human Rights and China Solidarity, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates stressed that ahead of this year’s announcement of the next Laureate for the Nobel Peace Prize, the United Nations and the European Union cannot remain silent and leave without defense the only Nobel Laureate currently in prison in the world.
On the eve of the announcement of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, they invite the UN and EU authorities along with Presidents and Prime Ministers all around the world to speak out against the continuous illegal imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo and the house arrest of Liu Xia and to call publicly for their immediate and unconditional release.
For further information, please contact:
Jared Genser, International Counsel to Liu Xiaobo (Freedom Now)
[email protected], +1 202 320 4135
Emmanouil Athanasiou, Coordinator, International Committee for Liu Xiaobo
[email protected], +33 685 735 495