Jailed Chinese dissident Liu wins Nobel Peace Prize

(October 8, 2010) Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (LEE-o SHAo-boh) won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said. The committee says it has long believed that there is a close connection between human rights and peace. The prize has been bitterly denounced by the Chinese government, which warned the Nobel committee about giving the award to Liu. It was the first Nobel for the Chinese dissident community since it resurfaced after the country's communist leadership launched economic, but not political reforms three decades ago. The prize puts China's human rights in the spotlight at a time Beijing has sought to play a bigger role on the global stage. Liu was jailed for 11 years from last December for subversion of state power, a year after his detention as lead author of Charter 08, a manifesto issued by Chinese intellectuals and activists calling for free speech and multi-party elections. The former literature professor rose to prominence as a strike leader during protests on Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was later jailed for 20 months and then spent three years in a "labour re-education" camp during the 1990s, as well as months under virtual house arrest.