Protest>> Letter • China
.jpg "People protest in China asking government to free Xiaobo (Source: EPA)")
Liu Xiaobo, a writer and human rights activist, was sentenced to prison for 11 years in 2009 for expressing his wish to see peaceful political change in China.
Xiaobo was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. A few days after that, Communist Party elders wrote a letter urging the government to release the Chinese Nobel peace laureate. They also demanded complete freedom of speech as promised in the Chinese constitution, abolishment of restrictions on publishing books and a new media law to make sure that journalists do their job with sincerity.
The letter was signed by Chinese writers, lawyers, activists and former officials. Some claim that comments and discussions regarding the letter are being deleted off the Internet. People are sceptical if an open letter like this would be succeed in influencing policy makers.
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