30 December 2009
Call to Action to PEN Centres
CHINA: Prominent dissident writer Liu Xiaobo sentenced to 11 years
International PENs Writers in Prison Committee is calling on PEN Centres world wide to take action on behalf of Liu Xiaobo and others detained in China. Liu Xiaobo, former President and Board member of Independent Chinese PEN Centre, was sentenced to eleven years in prison on 25 December 2009. He was convicted of incitement to subversion for his role in publishing Charter 08, a document calling for political reform and human rights, and articles published online since 2005. On 25 December 2009 International PEN issued a press release protesting the sentence. To read this go to Liu Xiaobo Press release https://www.chinesepen.org/old-posts/Article/bhdt/200912/Article_20091225105232.shtml PEN continues to demand the immediate and unconditional release of dissident writer Liu Xiaobo and all those detained in violation of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. Liu Xiaobo is likely to appeal against his sentence which he must do within ten days of his conviction (4 January 2010).
PEN Centres are called to take action for Liu Xiaobo. Many Centres have signed onto a petition organised by the Independent Chinese PEN Centre that gathered over 300 writers signatures and which was published shortly before the sentence was announced. The petition got wide press coverage. On New Years Eve, PEN America will hold a press event opposite the Chinese Mission to the U.N. in New York, to demand the release of Liu Xiaobo. The event will feature several prominent members of PEN American Center reading short passages from Lius work.
You too can take action by:
1) Sending letters of protest to the Chinese authorities in Beijing as well as the Chinese embassies in your own country see below for guidance
2) Staging public events and writing articles for publication in the press.
3) Electing Liu Xiaobo as an Honorary Member of your Centres and by doing so provide long term support and advocacy for him and his family. For details of the International PEN Honorary Membership scheme, read the PEN WiPC Guide to Defending Writers Under Attack (Part V, pgs 15-20). Please let us know if you do so and we will ensure that your Centre is networked with others working on Lius case.
Background
Liu Xiaobo was arrested on 8 December 2009 and held under residential surveillance, a form of pre-trial detention, at an undisclosed location in Beijing until he was formally charged on 23 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 sentenced to eleven years in prison on 25 December 2009.
Liu Xiaobo is among a large number of dissidents to have been detained or harassed since December 2008 after issuing an open letter calling on the National Peoples Congress Standing Committee to ratify the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and launching Charter 08, a declaration calling for political reforms and human rights published on 9 December 2008. These activities were part of campaigns to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December), and were initially signed by over 300 scholars, journalists, freelance writers and activists and now have over 10,000 signatories from throughout China.
Liu Xiaobo first received support from International PEN in 1989, when he was one of a group of writers and intellectuals given the label the Black Hands of Beijing by the government and arrested for their part in the Tiananmen Square protests. Prior to hiscurrent arrest, Liu has spent a total of five years in prison, including a three year sentence passed in 1996, and has suffered frequent short arrests, harassment and censorship. In January 2009 over 300 writers signed a petition calling for his release.
For more information follow these links:
“An Open Letter to Calling on the National People’s Congress Standing
Committee to Ratify the ICCPR”, 10 December, 2008 (in Chinese),
http://www.crd-net.org/Article/Class4/200812/20081209030825_12257.html
Charter 08, 10 December, 2008 (in Chinese):
http://crd-net.org/Article/Class71/200812/20081209130050_12266.html
The English version can be found on:
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3552/prmID/1610
For writings and an interview with Liu Xiaobo see American PENs website:
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3029/prmID/172
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/3550/prmID/172
Send appeals to:
His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the Peoples Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R. China
Mr. Meng Jianzhu
Minister of the Public Security
East Chang’an Avenue 14
100741 Beijing
P.R. China
Please note that there are no fax numbers for the Chinese authorities. WiPC recommends that you copy your appeal to the Chinese embassy in your country asking them to forward it and welcoming any comments.
You may find it easier to write to the Chinese ambassador in your own country asking him or her to forward your appeal. Most embassies are obliged to forward such appeals to the relevant officials in the country. A letter or petition signed by an eminent member of your Centre may give make it more likely for your appeal to be considered. Similarly if your appeal is published in your local press and copied to the Chinese ambassador, this too may have greater impact.
See this useful link to find the contact details of the Chinese embassy in your country Chinese embassies abroad
**Please contact the PEN WiPC office in London if sending appeals after 31 January 2010**
For further information please contact Cathy McCann at International PEN Writers in Prison Committee, Brownlow House, 50/51 High Holborn, London WC1V 6ER, Tel.