International Committee for Liu Xiaobo
134 Nobel Laureates Urge Incoming Chinese President Xi Jinping to
Release Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo and Wife Liu Xia
Citizens Petition to Chinese Government Launched at Change.Org by Archbishop Tutu
(New York) Today, 134 Nobel Laureates across all six Nobel disciplines wrote to incoming Chinese President Xi Jinping, urging him to immediately and unconditionally release Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia. Liu Xia has been under house arrest since shortly after the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced her husband’s selection as the Peace Prize Laureate for 2010. The letter was released by the International Committee for Liu Xiaobo, which is comprised of six Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and 15 nongovernmental organizations.[1] The Nobel Laureates wrote:
Across all disciplines, the distinguishing feature which led to our recognition as Nobel Laureates is that we have embraced the power of our intellectual freedom and creative inspiration to do our part to advance the human condition. No government can restrict freedom of thought and association without having a negative effect on such important human innovation.
Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu (Peace 1984) and Sir Richard Roberts (Physiology or Medicine 1993) are leading this initiative with the support of Freedom Now, which serves as international counsel to both Liu Xiaobo and his wife. The letter from Nobel Laureates sends a powerful message to the Chinese government that releasing Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia will send a positive signal about the new leadership’s priorities and that their ongoing detention hinders China’s development and damages its international stature:
“I hope that the Chinese authorities appreciate the diversity of extraordinary achievement represented by the Nobel Laureates who have written to them today,” said Archbishop Tutu. “Our effort is not to embarrass China but rather to implore the government to take a different approach that would help China develop in the best way for all its people,” he noted. “By releasing Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia, China can demonstrate its strength and show that it is not fearful of those who seek dialogue about the most effective ways to reform its government,” added Richard Roberts. In addition to launching this letter today, Archbishop Tutu, on behalf of his fellow Laureates, launched a global citizen petition drive to the incoming Chinese President urging Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia’s immediate release.
December 4, 2012
The Honorable Xi Jinping
General Secretary of the Communist Party of China
Zhongnanhai, Xichengqu, Beijing City
People’s Republic of China
Dear Mr. Xi,
As you have taken the first step towards assuming the presidency of the People’s Republic of China, we write to welcome the prospect of fresh leadership and new ideas. To that end, we respectfully urge you to release Dr. Liu Xiaobo, the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and his wife, Liu Xia.
On December 25, 2009, your government sentenced Dr. Liu, a highly respected intellectual and democracy advocate, to 11 years in prison for “inciting subversion.” The charges were based on his political essays and co-authorship of “Charter 08,” which called for peaceful political reform in China based on the principles of human rights, freedom, and democracy. Shortly after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Dr. Liu its Peace Prize, the government placed Liu Xia under house arrest, where she remains cut off from the outside world two years later without charge or the benefit of any legal process. In response to the continued detentions of Dr. Liu and Liu Xia, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, an independent and impartial body of experts, issued Opinions No. 15-16/2011, finding their detentions to be in violation of international law; however, despite this finding their cases remain unresolved.
Across all disciplines, the distinguishing feature which led to our recognition as Nobel Laureates is that we have embraced the power of our intellectual freedom and creative inspiration to do our part to advance the human condition. No government can restrict freedom of thought and association without having a negative effect on such important human innovation. Indeed, we Laureates are distressed that your government continues to block access to the main Nobel Prize web site (www.nobelprize.org).
During former Chinese President Hu Jintao’s state visit to the United States in 2011, he recognized that “a lot still needs to be done in China on human rights.” While we welcome such honest assessments, we hope that China’s new political leadership will move past merely recognizing the problem and seize this important opportunity to take concrete steps towards embracing the fundamental rights of all Chinese citizens. An essential first step is the immediate and unconditional release of Dr. Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia.
Sincerely,
134 Nobel Prize Laureates
Name, Category, Prize Year:
Peter Agre, Chemistry, 2003
Thomas R. Cech, Chemistry, 1989
Martin Chalfie, Chemistry, 2008
Aaron Ciechanover, Chemistry, 2004
Paul J. Crutzen, Chemistry, 1995
Robert F. Curl Jr., Chemistry, 1996
Johann Deisenhofer, Chemistry, 1988
Richard R. Ernst, Chemistry, 1991
Gerhard Ertl , Chemistry, 2007
Walter Gilbert, Chemistry, 1980
Robert H. Grubbs, Chemistry, 2005
Dudley R. Herschbach , Chemistry, 1986
Avram Hershko , Chemistry, 2004
Roald Hoffmann, Chemistry, 1981
Robert Huber, Chemistry, 1988
Roger D. Kornberg, Chemistry, 2006
Sir Harold Kroto, Chemistry, 1996
Yuan T. Lee, Chemistry, 1986
Mario J. Molina, Chemistry, 1995
Kary B. Mullis, Chemistry, 1993
John C. Polanyi, Chemistry, 1986
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Chemistry, 2009
Richard R. Schrock, Chemistry, 2005
Jens C. Skou, Chemistry, 1997
Thomas A. Steitz, Chemistry, 2009
Roger Y. Tsien, Chemistry, 2008
Sir John E. Walker, Chemistry, 1997
Kurt Wuthrich, Chemistry, 2002
Ada E. Yonath, Chemistry, 2009
Kenneth J. Arrow, Economics, 1972
Peter A. Diamond, Economics, 2010
Daniel Kahneman, Economics, 2002
Finn E. Kydland, Economics, 2004
Robert E. Lucas Jr., Economics, 1995
Harry M. Markowitz, Economics, 1990
Eric S. Maskin, Economics, 2007
Daniel L. McFadden, Economics, 2000
James A. Mirrlees, Economics, 1996
Dale T. Mortensen, Economics, 2010
Roger B. Myerson, Economics, 2007
Douglass C. North, Economics, 1993
Thomas J. Sargent, Economics, 2011
Thomas C. Schelling, Economics, 2005
Vernon L. Smith, Economics, 2002
Oliver E. Williamson, Economics, 2009
J. M. Coetzee, Literature, 2003
Gunter Grass, Literature, 1999
Elfriede Jelinek, Literature, 2004
Toni Morrison, Literature, 1993
Herta Muller, Literature, 2009
Tomas Transtromer, Literature, 2011
Mario Vargas Llosa, Literature, 2010
David Baltimore, Medicine, 1975
Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, Medicine, 2008
J. Michael Bishop, Medicine, 1989
Gunter Blobel, Medicine, 1999
Sydney Brenner, Medicine, 2002
Linda B. Buck, Medicine, 2004
Sir Martin J. Evans, Medicine, 2007
Andrew Z. Fire, Medicine, 2006
Edmond H. Fischer, Medicine, 1992
Alfred G. Gilman, Medicine, 1994
Paul Greengard, Medicine, 2000
Carol W. Greider, Medicine, 2009
Roger Guillemin, Medicine, 1977
Sir John B. Gurdon, Medicine, 2012
Leland H. Hartwell, Medicine, 2001
Harald zur Hausen, Medicine, 2008
H. Robert Horvitz, Medicine, 2002
David H. Hubel, Medicine, 1981
Tim Hunt, Medicine, 2001
Louis J. Ignarro, Medicine, 1998
Eric R. Kandel, Medicine, 2000
Rita Levi-Montalcini, Medicine, 1986
Craig C. Mello, Medicine, 2006
Joseph E. Murray, Medicine, 1990
Erwin Neher, Medicine, 1991
Sir Paul Nurse, Medicine, 2001
Christiane Nusslein-Volhard, Medicine, 1995
Stanley B. Prusiner, Medicine, 1997
Sir Richard J. Roberts, Medicine, 1993
Hamilton O. Smith, Medicine, 1978
John E. Sulston, Medicine, 2002
Jack W. Szostak, Medicine, 2009
E. Donnall Thomas, Medicine, 1990
J. Robin Warren, Medicine, 2005
Eric F. Wieschaus, Medicine, 1995
Torsten N. Wiesel, Medicine, 1981
Amnesty International, Peace, 1977
Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Peace, 1996
Mairead Maguire, Peace, 1976
Shirin Ebadi, Peace, 2003
Leymah Roberta Gbowee, Peace, 2011
Tawakkul Karman, Peace, 2011
The 14th Dalai Lama, Peace, 1989
Jose Ramos-Horta, Peace, 1996
Desmond Tutu, Peace, 1984
Elie Wiesel, Peace, 1986
Betty Williams, Peace, 1976
Jody Williams, Peace, 1997
Zhores I. Alferov, Physics, 2000
Leon N. Cooper, Physics, 1972
James Cronin, Physics, 1980
Jerome I. Friedman, Physics, 1990
Andre Geim, Physics, 2010
Riccardo Giacconi, Physics, 2002
Donald A. Glaser, Physics, 1960
Sheldon Glashow, Physics, 1979
Roy J. Glauber, Physics, 2005
David J. Gross, Physics, 2004
John L. Hall, Physics, 2005
Serge Haroche, Physics, 2012
Antony Hewish, Physics, 1974
Gerardus 't Hooft, Physics, 1999
Brian D. Josephson, Physics, 1973
Charles K. Kao, Physics, 2009
Wolfgang Ketterle, Physics, 2001
Klaus von Klitzing, Physics, 1985
Leon M. Lederman, Physics, 1988
Anthony J. Leggett, Physics, 2003
John C. Mather, Physics, 2006
Douglas D. Osheroff, Physics, 1996
William D. Phillips, Physics, 1997
H. David Politzer, Physics, 2004
Robert C. Richardson, Physics, 1996
Adam G. Riess, Physics, 2011
Heinrich Rohrer, Physics, 1986
Brian P. Schmidt, Physics, 2011
Jack Steinberger, Physics, 1988
Joseph H. Taylor Jr., Physics, 1993
Charles H. Townes, Physics, 1964
Steven Weinberg, Physics, 1979
Frank Wilczek, Physics, 2004
Robert Woodrow Wilson, Physics, 1978
[1]The International Committee for Liu Xiaobo is composed of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Ms. Tawakkol Karman, Ms. Mairead Maguire, Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, Ms. Betty Williams, and Ms. Jody Williams as well as the following non-governmental organizations: Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT), Act for Human Rights (ADH), Catholic Committee against Hunger and for Development (CCFD- Terre Solidaire), China Solidarity, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), Initiatives for China/Citizen Power for China, International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Freedom Now, Human Rights Foundation (HRF), Human Rights League (LDH), Human Rights Watch (HRW), Global Justice Center (GJC), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM). Until his passing, former Czech Republic President Václav Havel served on the Committee as well.
