Liu Xiaobo, a Nobel Peace Prize-winning Chinese dissident, has died, local authorities said in a statement Thursday. He was 61.
Liu had been suffering from liver cancer and died of multiple organ failure.
In June, he was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with liver cancer in prison. The Beijing government refused to let him seek treatment overseas despite Liu’s wishes and international pressure. Chinese authorities eventually allowed doctors from Germany and the United States to treat him.
Liu spent more than a decade behind bars in China for his advocacy of democracy, including taking part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.
His most recent prison sentence stemmed from his co-authorship of Charter 08, a manifesto calling for political reform and human rights in China. Liu was convicted in December 2009 and received a surprisingly harsh 11-year prison term for “inciting subversion of state power.”
Judicial authorities in Shenyang, where Liu was being treated, said he was given emergency treatment beginning Monday after his condition continued to deteriorate.
Nobel committee criticizes China
Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee — which awards the Nobel Peace Prize — said the Chinese government “bears a heavy responsibility for his premature death” and also accused the free world of ignoring his case.
“It is a sad and disturbing fact that the representatives of the free world, who themselves hold democracy and human rights in high regard, are less willing to stand up for those rights for the benefit of others,” she said in a statement.
“Liu Xiaobo was a representative of ideas that resonate with millions of people all over the world, even in China. These ideas cannot be imprisoned and will never die.”
Liu’s absence from the 2010 Nobel ceremony was marked by an empty chair.
“We now have to come to terms with the fact that his chair will forever remain empty,” Reiss-Andersen said.
“At the same time it is our deep conviction that Liu Xiaobo will remain a powerful symbol for all who fight for freedom, democracy and a better world.”
‘We are here, with Xiaobo’
Tributes quickly poured in for Liu.
Ai Weiwei, another Chinese dissident and perhaps the country’s most famous artist, tweeted: “Liu Xiaobo is gone – rest in peace. We are here, with Xiaobo.”
Activist Chen Guangcheng wrote on Twitter: “By torturing and killing Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese Communist authorities have blocked all possibilities of progress.” Chen is the author of “The Barefoot Lawyer: A Blind Man’s Fight for Justice and Freedom in China.”
Teng Biao, a Chinese human rights lawyer and scholar who fled the country in 2014, tweeted: “(Liu Xiaobo) has died. His love, courage and strength will never die.’
In a statement, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said the human rights movement “in China and across the world has lost a principled champion who devoted his life to defending and promoting human rights, peacefully and consistently, and who was jailed for standing up for his beliefs.”
The commissioner called on Chinese authorities to allow Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, the right to travel.
“Liu Xiaobo was the true embodiment of the democratic, non-violent ideals he so ardently advocated,” Zeid said. “Despite the imprisonment and separation from the wife he adored that could have (fueled) anger and bitterness, Liu Xiaobo declared that he had no hatred for those who pursued and prosecuted him.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on her Facebook page called on China to help realize Liu’s “Chinese dream” by implementing political reforms and allowing citizens “the natural right to democratic freedom.”
The leader of the self-ruled island regarded by Beijing as a renegade province wrote that Liu “has no enemies, because democracy has no enemies.”
In a statement, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Liu “dedicated his life to the betterment of his country and humankind, and to the pursuit of justice and liberty,” and urged Chinese authorities to release Liu’s wife from house arrest and allow her to travel outside China.
Human Rights Watch quickly condemned the Chinese government’s treatment of Liu, noting that the last Nobel Peace laureate who died in state custody was pacifist Carl von Ossietzky in Nazi Germany in 1938.
“The Chinese government’s arrogance, cruelty, and callousness are shocking — but Liu’s struggle for a rights-respecting, democratic China will live on,” Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
Salil Shetty, secretary-general of Amnesty International, called Liu “a man of fierce intellect, principle, wit and above all humanity.”
“Despite enduring years of persecution, suppression and imprisonment, Liu Xiaobo continued to fight for his convictions,” Shetty said.
German Justice Minister Heiko Maas tweeted: “Liu Xiaobo is dead. His violent-free resistance made him a hero in the fight for democracy and human rights.”
Liu’s activism resonated strongly in Hong Kong, which enjoys significantly more freedom of expression than mainland China. The Chinese government will often censor news of Liu inside the country, blocking websites and blacking out international reports when discussing his case.
Protesters there called for Liu to be released during a recent visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese rule.
“Mr. Liu passed away without receiving the respect and dignity he deserved,” the political party Demosisto, which counts pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and lawmaker Nathan Law among its members, said in a statement.