China's weirdly inhuman style
May 23 2018 By Abiodun Giwa
The widow of a writer and Nobel prize winner in China, whose late husband was deemed as a dissident by authorities, has been under house arrest for eight years, South China Morning Post reports.
Authors and international literary figures are reportedly requesting her freedom, saying her years under house arrest have taken psychological toll on her life.
Can you Imagine someone under house arrest for eight years in the 21st Century without trial and not for any known crime, other than that her husband was a dissident?
This victim of the most harrowing experience from a dictatorship and most undemocratic norm is Liu Xia, the widow of Laurate Liu Xiaobo. She has never been charged for any offence by Chinese authorities. And yet, in talks about likely freedom, the Chinese authorities are considering that she could only be freed on the condition never to leave the country.
Although, allowed to interact with people outside her home on phone, no visitors suspected to be from outside China allowed to visit her, as such are turned back from her gate upon discovery they are inquisitive visitors.
People are asking that given that Xiaobo - Liu Xia’s husband, was jailed for subversion in China and he died in jail, why should the Chinese authorities be afraid of the widow, and could there be any secret enough to harm the Chinese authorities known by Liu Xia and which the authorities may not want divulged?
Authorities in China have been reported several time as having promised to free their captive, but had failed to live up to their words. Another promise this past February to free her in May has also passed without fulfilment. This style is nothing short of deliberately visiting inhuman treatment on the widow of a man the authorities considered an enemy.
Authors and international literary figures are reportedly requesting her freedom, saying her years under house arrest have taken psychological toll on her life.
Can you Imagine someone under house arrest for eight years in the 21st Century without trial and not for any known crime, other than that her husband was a dissident?
This victim of the most harrowing experience from a dictatorship and most undemocratic norm is Liu Xia, the widow of Laurate Liu Xiaobo. She has never been charged for any offence by Chinese authorities. And yet, in talks about likely freedom, the Chinese authorities are considering that she could only be freed on the condition never to leave the country.
Although, allowed to interact with people outside her home on phone, no visitors suspected to be from outside China allowed to visit her, as such are turned back from her gate upon discovery they are inquisitive visitors.
People are asking that given that Xiaobo - Liu Xia’s husband, was jailed for subversion in China and he died in jail, why should the Chinese authorities be afraid of the widow, and could there be any secret enough to harm the Chinese authorities known by Liu Xia and which the authorities may not want divulged?
Authorities in China have been reported several time as having promised to free their captive, but had failed to live up to their words. Another promise this past February to free her in May has also passed without fulfilment. This style is nothing short of deliberately visiting inhuman treatment on the widow of a man the authorities considered an enemy.
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