Liu Xia, Widow of Nobel Laureate Feared ‘Disappeared’

Human Rights Watch fears that Beijing-based poet and artist Liu Xia, the wife of deceased Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, has been forcibly disappeared. She was with Liu when he died in custody last week after battling liver cancer amid international criticism of Beijing for denying him the right to travel abroad to seek treatment as he had wished. In the days following Liu Xiaobo’s death, friends and supporters have expressed concerns over the health and safety of Ms. Liu, whose whereabouts remain unknown and who has not been seen nor heard from since she attended her husband’s funeral on Saturday in proceedings closely orchestrated by the Chinese government. Despite never being charged, Liu Xia has been under de facto house arrest and kept largely isolated from the outside world since her husband won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010.

Read more