Liu Xiaobo, a writer and outspoken critic of the Chinese government, was arrested on 8 October 1996 and summarily sentenced the following day to three years’ “re-education through labour.” It is reported that his sentence is linked to his petition last month for freedom of speech and the right to form independent politic parties. Background […]
Liu Xiaobo, a writer and outspoken critic of the Chinese
government, was arrested on 8 October 1996 and summarily
sentenced the following day to three years’ “re-education through
labour.” It is reported that his sentence is linked to his
petition last month for freedom of speech and the right to form
independent politic parties.
Background Information
Liu is a long-standing critic of the Chinese authorities. He was
imprisoned for 18 months from June 1989 for his leading role as
one of the “black hands” of the Tiananmen Square democracy
movement. He was again detained in May 1995 after collecting
signatures for a petition calling for human rights guarantees and
the establishment of a constitutional court. He was held without
trial until his release in January 1996.
Liu came to prominence in the late 1980s while studying, and
subsequently becoming a lecturer in, Chinese literature. He is
known for publicly condemning contemporary Chinese literature as
party controlled. He founded a literary “salon” which published
an underground literary magazine. In April 1989 he went to New
York to take up a post at the East Asian Institute of Columbia
University, but returned to China within a few weeks to join the
democracy movement. From then until his arrest on 6 June 1989 he
was central to the democracy movement, raising funds and
publishing articles in the overseas press. Since his release in
January 1991, he has not been allowed to teach or publish.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
being a denial of his internationally recognised right to freedom
of expression
who practise their right to freedom of expression
Appeals To
His Excellency Li Peng Zongli
Office of the Premier
Guowuyuan
9 Xihuangcheggenbeijie
Beijingshi 100032
People’s Republic of China
Fax: + 86 1 512 5810 or +86 10 467 7351
His Excellency Xiao Yang Buzhang
Minister of Justice
Sifabu
Xiaguangli
Beijingshi 100016
People’s Republic of China
Fax: + 86 1 467 7351
the Chinese diplomatic representative in your country
(in Canada)
Embassy of the People’s Republic of China
515 St. Patrick St.
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 5H3 Canada
Fax: +1 613 789 1911
Please copy appeals to the originator if possible.
For further background, see also IFEX Action Campaign dated 25 May 1995
