" Liu Xia is free." A Chinese official made this assertion to allay concerns that the widow of prominent Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who died
«Liu Xia is free.»
A Chinese official made this assertion to allay concerns that the widow of prominent Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who died July 13, remains under house arrest — as she has been for most of the time since her husband was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.
«We want Liu Xia to avoid more trouble, » added the official, Shenyang city government spokesman Zhang Qingyang, speaking at a press briefing on Saturday. But he did not specify her whereabouts. «I believe the relevant departments will protect Liu Xia’s rights according to the law, » he told reporters.
As far as many of her family, friends and supporters are concerned, Liu Xia is missing — probably still in custody and under surveillance of authorities, if not under house arrest. Foreign journalists who went looking for her in recent days say they were harassed by plainclothes security officials.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee «is deeply worried about Liu Xia’s situation in the aftermath of her husband’s tragic death, » Olav Njoelstad, the secretary of the committee, told Reuters. «We call upon Chinese authorities to lift all restrictions they have put upon her. If she wants to leave China, there is no justification for denying her the opportunity to do so.»
The struggle to control Liu Xiaobo’s memory continues even after his death, critics say. Official statements such as Zhang’s are merely «part of the authorities’ very grotesque manipulation of the narrative» of Liu’s death, says Maya Wang, a Hong Kong-based researcher with Human Rights Watch.
And his widow is likely to remain a key part of the struggle. A picture of Liu Xia released by the Shenyang government shows her with a shaved head, wearing black clothes and sunglasses, looking down at a picture of her husband after his death.
Although Liu Xia is a prisoner of the state, Wang says she has never been convicted of any crime. Her continued house arrest, Wang says, «is unlawful, and it follows the Chinese government’s long tradition of punishing family members for the crimes of activists.
