China's jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiabo has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.
ADVERTISEMENTChina’s jailed Nobel peace prize laureate Liu Xiabo has been granted medical parole after being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.
“He is now being treated at a hospital in Shenyang (in northeast Liaoning province). He has no special plans. He is just receiving medical treatment for his illness,” lawyer Mo Shaoping told reporters.
The Chinese civil rights campaigner was diagnosed on May 23 and released days later.
When was he given the Nobel prize?
In 2010, while in the middle of serving an 11-year prison sentence for inciting subversion of state power.
Why was he arrested?
He wrote a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08. In it, he called for an end to one-party rule and urged improvements in human rights.
Why did he get the Nobel?
The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded him the prize for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China” in 2010.
Liu was unable to collect his prize in person, as he was in prison. He was represented by an empty chair.
How did China react?
Beijing was infuriated. Relations with Norway rapidly deteriorated.