Those Norwegians are at it again. Remember last year when they awarded President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize in the midst of his heading two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? This morning, they announced the 2010 prize is going to Liu Xiaobo (in the glasses, at right), and man, the Chinese are not happy.
“Liu Xiaobo is a convicted criminal sentenced to jail by Chinese justice authorities for violation of Chinese law. His acts are in complete contradiction to the purpose of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Mao Zhaoxu, foreign ministry spokesman, said.
Why so glum, chum? Let’s bring you up to speed. In 1989, there was a protest that went horribly awry. Perhaps you heard of it? It was in Tiananmen Square. Liu was there. Then, he was one of the leading authors of Charter 08, a manifesto of human rights published on the 60th anniversary of the United Nations‘ Universal Declaration of Human Rights in December 2008. The Chinese weren’t so thrilled about that either, so in 2009, they sentenced Liu to 11 years in prison and two years’ deprivation of political rights for “inciting subversion of state power.” That reminds us of another jailed Peace Prize winner, the Dalai Lama. He released this statement:
“Awarding the Peace Prize to [Liu] is the international community’s recognition of the increasing voices among the Chinese people in pushing China towards political, legal and constitutional reforms…. I believe in the years ahead, future generations of Chinese will be able to enjoy the fruits of the efforts that the current Chinese citizens are making towards responsible governance.”
There’s no word yet if Liu and/or his wife will be able to attend the Dec. 10 awards ceremony, or how he’ll be able to receive the Swedish equivalent of $1.5 million while behind bars. But the public campaign for Liu’s release just got that much stronger with his gain of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Photo by laihiu via Flickr.