China's Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize

By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 8, 2010

Liu Xiaobo, an irrepressible, chain-smoking Chinese dissident less than one year into an 11-year sentence for subversion, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for helping to spearhead a campaign for more freedom in China.

In a statement, the Nobel Committee said Liu, 54, was awarded the prize "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

Liu is serving his sentence at Jinzhou prison in Liaoning, hundreds of miles from his home and wife, Liu Xia, in Beijing. His wife reacted to the news by expressing her thanks that Liu's physical condition seems to have improved in jail, that he's allowed to read and that the two can exchange regular letters.

"We have no regrets," she said. "All of this has been of our choosing. It will always be so. We'll bear the consequences together. I've known Liu since 1982. I've watched him change little by little year by year, and we know that we have to pay the price under the current situation in China."

(More here.)