Liu Xiaobo, Nobel laureate and political prisoner died in Custody
Liu Xiaobo, the political prisoner and Nobel laureate died in Chinese custody. China is facing international criticism for the death of Liu who died at 61 years on 1st February 2017.
The Nobel laureate was a democracy campaigner who initiated the non-violent resistance to overcome the forceful tyranny. He was serving a jail sentence of 11 years because he demanded an end to the one-party rule. In May, he was diagnosed with liver cancer at a late stage.
Multiple organ failures caused his death at a hospital in China, he was still under guard. He was the 3rd Nobel prize winner to die while in custody since the 1935 recipient Carl von Ossietzky, Germany pacifist, who died under surveillance after being confined to Nazi concentration camps as well as Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma who died in 1991.
The death of Liu caused international condemnation and mourning. He spent about a quarter of his life in jail because of his criticism and peaceful activism of the one-party rule. He was termed as a courageous fighter for freedom of opinion and civil rights by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of the state said that Liu had dedicated his life to have a better country and humankind.
According to the Norwegian Nobel committee which grants the prize, the Chinese government is responsible for his premature death. The government did not allow Liu to go for treatment abroad despite the appeals from global leaders. Liu was not even transferred to a good medical facility to receive better treatment before he was terminally ill.
(this article was written by Ms. Risper Buyeke)
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