UK Today News: Liu Xiaobo Awarded Nobel Peace Prize 2010
Jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo has been awarded the coveted Nobel Peace Prize 2010, for being the symbol of the struggle for human rights in China. Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to a 11 years jail term in December 2009.
Reports state that Xiaobo surpassed Sima Samar, an Afghan women’s rights activist, Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina, former German chancellor Helmut Kohl as well as Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai; to stand as the recipient of one of the most prestigious awards in the world – the Nobel Peace Prize.
Xiaobo signed the Charter 08, for multiparty democracy and respect for human rights in China. This action of Liu got him arrested on the eve of Christmas in 2009. He was also arrested in 1989 for his major in the Tiananmen Square protests.
The Nobel Peace Prize for Liu Xiaobo was announced in Oslo, Norway. The Chinese Foreign Ministry was against awarding Liu this award because it believed that it was against the principles of the Nobel awards. But the Nobel committee was firm with their decision and they are aware of the fact that Beijing would not take this announcement in the right stride.
