One year ago today, Chinese authorities seized Liu Xiaobo and tossed him in prison for his involvement with Charter 08, a manifesto calling for human rights and democracy in China. The charter was published online two days later, on December 10, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Liu was eventually charged with “inciting subversion of state power” and he remains in custody today.
Liu was held for six months under “residential surveillance” at an unknown location (aka, a secret prison). He has now been moved to a prison in Beijing, but no trial date has been set. Liu has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese government for decades and has been incarcerated for his views before. The charter has now been signed by more than 10,000 people inside and outside of China, but many of the 300 original signers have been arrested or harassed by Chinese authorities.
China’s suppression of dissent is well documented, of course, and I’ve written before about the country’s continued use of secret prisons despite promises and claims to end the system. Today, as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao prepares to travel to Copenhagen to talk with world leaders about climate change, his country is detaining countless people for suspected subversion and, in some cases, for nothing at all.
I’ve been following Liu’s case through updates from the PEN Center, a wonderful organization I’ve covered in this space before for their prison project — teaching literacy and advanced writing skills to thousands of U.S. prisoners. Liu is a past president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPC), a center of the international writers’ organization that advocates for the right to freedom of expression inside of China.
Five of Liu’s fellow PEN members are also behind bars in China, including Zhang Lin, who spent more than four years in prison before he was released in August, only to be rearrested last week for speaking with foreign press about PEN members behinds bars.
As the U.S. and world governments continue to engage China on global warming and other issues, those of us who advocate for fair justice around the world need to keep pressure on our governments to remind China that human rights violations like the detention of Liu and Zhang are unacceptable.
Watch a video with Liu and sign the PEN Center’s petition for his release here.