The International Campaign for Tibet is deeply concerned by the news of the illness of Nobel Peace Laureate Liu Xiaobo and maintains that the Chinese Government now has the responsibility to see that he gets the necessary medical attention.
Liu Xiaobo, sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 allegedly for “inciting subversion of state power”, was recently granted medical parole. The Dalai Lama had urged for his release saying, “By forcefully sentencing Liu Xiaobo, and others like him, who use freedom of expression to publicly articulate their opinions, the Chinese authorities have not only violated the binding principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, but also the freedom of expression mentioned in the constitution of the People’s Republic of China.”
ICT was among those many supporters of human rights in China who launched an international campaign for his release.
Liu is reported to be suffering from liver cancer and has been moved to the Number One Hospital of the China Medical University.
ICT supports the call for Liu to be allowed to receive the best possible medical care, wherever he wishes to receive it, in in or outside China.
“In the past, prisoners granted medical parole have been allowed to go abroad for medical treatment,” noted Dui Hua executive director John Kamm said in a statement. He added, “Common in the early years of the last decade, a prisoner granted medical parole has rarely been allowed to go abroad for medical treatment in recent years. Dui Hua calls on the prison authorities to allow Liu Xiaobo and his wife to go abroad for medical treatment if they so desire.”
As early as 2000, two years before the resumption of dialogue between representatives of the Dalai Lama and Beijing officials, Liu Xiaobo wrote an article supporting the Dalai Lama’s position on autonomy for Tibet within the People’s Republic of China, saying that the position was “not only wellfounded morally, but practically, it is a sincere expression for peaceful negotiations”. In March 2008, Liu Xiaobo’s name was prominent among the original 29 signatories of a 12-point petition to the Chinese authorities calling for dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, noting the “serious mistakes” in China’s policies in Tibet, and criticizing the Chinese government’s response to the protests in Tibet as lacking “a style of governing that conforms to the standards of modern civilization.”