China releases Nobel laureate with cancer

Beijing, June 26

China’s jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer last month, his lawyer said today.

Liu, 61, was jailed for 11 years in 2009 after he helped write a petition known as “Charter 08” calling for sweeping political reforms in China. The democracy campaigner was awarded the Nobel Prize a year later and was represented by an empty chair at the ceremony in Oslo.

Liu, who has about three years of his sentence to serve, was diagnosed on May 23 and was released days later, his lawyer Mo Shaoping said. “He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness,” Mo said.

Supporters voiced concerns about his health and criticised the way he has been treated by Chinese authorities.

“Adding injury to insult, Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with a grave illness in prison, where he should never have been put in the first place,” said Patrick Poon, China researcher at global rights group Amnesty International.

Poon called on Chinese authorities to ensure Liu “receives adequate medical care, effective access to his family and that he and all others imprisoned solely for exercising their human rights are immediately and unconditionally released”. — AFP