Liu Xiaobo, jailed in China, honored in absentia by Nobel committee

Nobel clampdowns: Winners prevented from accepting the prize

The Nobel Peace Prize ceremony Dec. 10 will mark only the second time in history that neither the winner nor a family member will be able to come to accept the award.

By Debbi Wilgoren and Keith B. Richburg

Washington Post Staff Writers

The blue-and-white upholstered chair reserved for him was empty, and his words were spoken not in his own voice, but by the Norwegian actress and movie director Liv Ulman.

At the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo Friday, jailed Chinese dissident and intellectual Liu Xiaobo was nowhere to be seen.

Yet his campaign to bring universal human rights and democracy to China was recognized at a somber and formal ceremony made more visible, in many ways, as a result of Beijing's efforts to suppress it.

"We regret that the laureate is not present. He is in isolation in a prison in northeastern China," said Nobel committee chairman Torbjørn Jagland. "Nor can his his wife or closest relatives be with us....This fact alone shows that the award was necessary and appropriate."

The audience of several hundred dignitaries, diplomats and officials responded with sustained applause and a standing ovation. An oversize portrait of Liu, 54, had been hung on the stage in the stately hall. His eyes, behind his trademark spectacles, appeared to take in the proceedings.

"Liu has only exercised his civil rights. He has not done anything wrong," Jagland said. "He must be released."

When he finished speaking, Jagland placed the medal and certificate normally awarded to the laureate in the empty chair upon the stage, triggering another ovation.

Ulman read from Liu's final statement before being sentenced to 11 years in jail for political incitement, titled, "I have no enemies."

"And now, I have once again been shoved into the dock by the enemy mentality of the regime," Liu wrote. "But I still want to say to this regime, which is depriving me of my freedom, that I stand by [my] convictions .... I have no enemies, and no hatred."

Hatred, Liu wrote, "can rot away at a person's intelligence and conscience. Enemy mentality will poison the spirit of a nation, incite cruel mortal struggles, destroy a society's tolerance and humanity, and hinder a nation's progress toward freedom and democracy."

China blocked broadcasts of the ceremonyon television and Internet sites. Just before 8 p.m. in Beijing, as the ceremony was beginning, CNN and BBC television channels went blank - as they had intermittently throughout the day. Chinese television news led their programs with stories on the latest economic figures, and new worries over inflation.

Also, some text messages containing the words "Liu Xiaobo" and "Nobel prize" were being blocked from delivery.