CHINA: HRF CALLS ON UN AND EU TO PUSH FOR NOBEL LAUREATE LIU XIAOBO'S RELEASE

NEW YORK – BRUSSELS – GENEVA – PARIS (October 10, 2014) - The Human Rights Foundation (HRF), together with four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and several major human rights organizations, sent a letter to the United Nations (U.N.) and the European Union (EU) calling on them to request that China immediately release 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, and lift the severe restrictions against his spouse, Liu Xia, a well known poet and artist. Mairead Maguire, Desmond Tutu, Jody Williams, and Shirin Ebadi expressed their strong indignation at the continued imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo and their dismay for the situation of Liu Xia, who remains under house arrest in the absence of any legal grounds.

Joined by HRF, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Without Borders, Freedom Now, the Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Act for Human Rights (ADH), the French League for Human Rights, and China Solidarity, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates stressed that on the day that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize Laureate is announced, the U.N. and EU cannot remain silent and leave the only currently imprisoned Nobel Laureate defenseless.

The signatories invite world leaders and U.N. and EU authorities to speak out against the continued illegal imprisonment of Liu Xiaobo and the house arrest of Liu Xia, and call publicly for their immediate and unconditional release.

HRF Contact: Jamie Hancock, Human Rights Foundation, jamie@thehrf.org, +1 (212) 246-8486

Nobel Laureate Contact: Emmanouil Athanasiou, e.athanasiou@humanrights.onmicrosoft.com