Liu Xia, wife of jailed Nobel winner, taken to hospital, say supporters
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Version 0 of 1. Liu Xia, the detained and ailing wife of jailed Nobel peace prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been admitted to a Beijing hospital after police refused to allow her to seek medical help overseas, a close family friend has said. Liu Xia, who has been under effective house arrest since her husband Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel in 2010, suffers from heart problems, possibly severe depression and other ailments made worse during her time under guard, her friends say. She was admitted to another hospital earlier in February under heavy police guard but the hospital told her to leave after a day without giving a reason, said Mo Shaoping, a prominent human rights lawyer and a close family friend. Liu Xia was admitted to the second hospital on Tuesday but it is unclear how long she will remain there because her family has been told by police not to disclose details about her condition and whereabouts, Mo said. “Her family had proposed seeking medical treatment overseas but the police didn’t approve it,” Mo said. It was then that the family was told to find treatment for her in Beijing. In December Liu Xia’s friends said she refused to seek medical help because she was afraid of further punishment. Liu, who has not been convicted of any crime, is rarely allowed out of her home, except for occasional visits to her husband and family, and is almost never permitted visitors. Ye Du, a writer and a friend, said Liu told him of her heart problems when they spoke recently by telephone. “Last month she said her heart was not feeling too good and she was sent to the hospital, where they told her that her heart was lacking blood,” Ye said. Ye confirmed Liu’s family had asked to seek medical help for her overseas, possibly in Europe, but police had rejected the request. “The environment that she’s been placed in, having been put under house arrest for so many years, is the main reason [for her worsening health] and they thought that going overseas was the only way they could fully guarantee that she will have good treatment,” Ye said. Another friend, Ma Shaofeng, said Liu had told him when they spoke a week ago that she had suffered a heart attack. The United States and the European Union have repeatedly urged China to let Liu Xia move freely. Liu Xiaobo is a veteran dissident who was involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests that were crushed by the Chinese army. In 2009 he was jailed for 11 years on subversion charges for organising a petition urging the overthrow of one-party rule. Liu Xia filed an extraordinary appeal for her husband’s retrial last month, a move that could renew the focus on China’s human rights record. The Chinese government says Liu Xiaobo is a common criminal and has rejected as unwarranted interference any criticism of its handling of the case by foreign governments. |