Britain has called on China to permit dying Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo to seek treatment for his cancer abroad, as doctors said on Monday that the political prisoner was in a “ critical condition” .
B ritain has called on China to permit dying Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo to seek treatment for his cancer abroad, as doctors said on Monday that the political prisoner was in a “critical condition”.
Calls have been growing for China’s most well-known dissident to be allowed to leave the hospital where he is being treated amid tight security – with one family friend telling The Telegraph he yearns to “die in the sunshine”.
Mr Liu, who was jailed in 2009 for state subversion, was transferred from prison to hospital in the north-eastern city of Shenyang last month.
Family members are known to have visited him, including his wife, Liu Xia, who authorities placed under house detention for several years.
C hinese experts at the hospital said that it would be “unsafe” to transfer Mr Liu but two foreign doctors who assessed the 61-year-old released a statement on Sunday saying that he could be moved .
A spokeswoman at the British Embassy in Beijing said: “The UK has repeatedly expressed serious concern at the treatment of Liu Xiaobo by the Chinese authorities.
“We continue to urge the Chinese authorities to ensure Liu Xiaobo has access to his choice of medical treatment, in a location of his choice, and to lift all restrictions on him and his wife Liu Xia”.
