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
NEWS 
