Rights groups hail ‘worthy winner’ of Nobel prize

BEIJING - International rights groups hailed Friday’s first Chinese citizen to win the Nobel Peace prize as a “worthy winner” and urged Western governments to use the award to keep up pressure on China to release him from prison.

“Liu Xiaobo is a worthy winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, we hope it will keep the spotlight on the struggle for fundamental freedoms and concrete protection of human rights that Liu Xiaobo and many other activists in China are dedicated to,” Catherine Baber, deputy director for the Asia-Pacific at London-based Amnesty International, said in a statement.

“This award can only make a real difference if it prompts more international pressure on China to release Liu, along with the numerous other prisoners of conscience languishing in Chinese jails for exercising their right to freedom of expression,” Baber said.

Renee Xia, the director of the Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Defenders, said the award “also honours all Chinese human rights defenders - Chen Guangcheng, Hu Jia, Gao Zhisheng, and countless others - who have suffered a great deal for advocating human rights.”

“We can only hope that the peace prize will add momentum to the efforts for their freedom and encouragement for their long road ahead,” Xia said.

China Human Rights Defenders asked US President Barack Obama, who won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, to urge Chinese President Hu Jintao to free Liu during the G20 summit in South Korea next month.

US-based Human Rights in China said the award “comes at a critical historical crossroads in China and constitutes a powerful affirmation for the voices calling for change”.

“As Liu Xiaobo and other Chinese advocates for change have pointed out, the only sustainable road ahead for China is one towards greater openness and political reform,” Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, said in a statement.

Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said it was “deeply moved by the award” to Liu.

“This decision by Norway’s Nobel Committee is a gesture of historic significance for China’s free speech movement,” Reporters Without Borders said.

“The Chinese government’s threats of reprisals failed to intimidate the Nobel Committee and the Norwegian authorities.

“It is a lesson for all the democratic governments that too often bow to pressure from Beijing,” it said.

US-based Human Rights Watch said the award would “no doubt infuriate the Chinese government by putting its human rights record squarely back into the international debate.”

“But this Nobel Prize honours not only Liu’s unflinching advocacy; it honours all those in China who struggle daily to make the government more accountable,” said Sophie Richardson, the Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch.

“The Nobel Committee made an important decision this year to highlight a reality few want to acknowledge about China - that its government continues to persecute human rights advocates, lawyers, and journalists,” Richardson said.

“Liu Xiaobo epitomizes the Nobel Peace Prize ideals by never deviating from his belief in peacefully expressing universal ideals and speaking truth to power,” she said.

“The Chinese government should see Liu Xiaobo as the Nobel Committee clearly does: not as an enemy or an embarrassment, but rather as someone whose courageous advocacy embodies the best of China,” Richardson said.