Writers Call For China To Release Nobel Prize Winner

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11th October 2010, 02:57pm - Views: 879






President

Management Committee 


Writers Advisory Panel



Bonny Cassidy

Vice Presidents

Michael Fraser AM

Sandy Symons 

Treasurer 

Peter Eichhorn

Secretary 

Simeon Beckett


Debra Adelaide

Carol Dettmann

Gail Jones

Christopher Michaelsen

Susie Eisenhuth


Geraldine Brooks

J.M. Coetzee

Tim Flannery

Helen Garner

Kate Grenville

Tom Keneally AO


Frank Moorhouse AM

David Malouf AO

John Tranter

David Williamson AO



freedom to write…

freedom to read


International PEN Sydney Centre Inc.

ABN: 51 796 241 535  

Trading as: 

Sydney PEN & International PEN Australian Centre

5 Blackfriars St, Chippendale NSW 2008

t: 1300 364 997  f: 02 9319 0141













Media release 

October 11, 2010


RELEASE IMPRISONED NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER


PEN centres around the Asia Pacific region today call on the People’s Republic of China to

release the writer and academic Liu Xiaobo, winner of the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize. 

 

Liu, currently serving an 11-year sentence in China, is a former president of the Independent

Chinese PEN Centre and is an Honorary Member of Sydney PEN Centre.  These and other

centres in the region have campaigned for public awareness of his case, and for diplomatic

action on his sentence, for the past year.  He is one of more than 40 writers, journalists and

intellectuals detained in Chinese prisons at present. 

 

PEN centres, including those in Sydney, Melbourne, the Philippines, Hong Kong and New

Zealand, support the recognition of the work and profile of this brave writer and academic at the

highest international level, the Nobel Peace Prize. 


“Liu's case is one of the better known of hundreds of such cases compiled to date by PEN.  The

Nobel Committee’s awarding of this Prize to him is a blaze of hope for Liu Xiaobo, his peers, and

all of us working for freedom of expression,” said Sydney PEN president, Dr Bonny Cassidy.  


In December 2008, Liu was a signatory to an open letter to the Chinese authorities calling on the

National People’s Congress to ratify the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Liu

was also instrumental in launching Charter 08 on 9 December 2008, a declaration calling for

political reforms and human rights, which was initially signed by over 300 scholars, journalists,

writers and activists.  


Charter 08 now has more than 10,000 signatories from throughout China and the Chinese

community abroad.


“Liu is worthy of this Prize not only for his work on Charter 08, but also for his long history as a

peaceful dissident, for his ongoing strength as a poet within prison, and for his role as

a

philosophical and moral compass for those who continue to encourage awareness of

oppressed writers, editors and publishers - and of human rights more generally,” said Dr

Cassidy.


“Liu Xiaobo is a man of extraordinary  courage, who continues to pay a high price for his

enduring commitment to freedom of expression and the written word,” remarked Melbourne PEN

president, Arnold Zable.

 

Liu was arrested in December 2008 and detained until he was formally charged in June 2009

with ‘spreading rumours and defaming the government, aimed at subversion of the state and

overthrowing the socialism system in recent years’.  



He was convicted and imprisoned for 11 years on 25 December 2009.  


PEN will continue to campaign for his release, and for the release of those gaoled in China for

the simple act of freely writing and reading. 



PEN celebrates literature and promotes freedom of expression.  Its global community of writers

now spans more than 100 countries. PEN programmes, campaigns, events and publications

connect writers and readers wherever they are in the world.



For further information (Sydney):

Dr Bonny Cassidy

0417 252 004

bonny.cassidy@gmail.com


















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