Fears for the well-being of the poet Liu Xia – widow of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo – are growing after her friends revealed that she recently underwent surgery. Liu has been under house arrest for years since her husband was jailed in 2008 after co-writing the Charter 08 manifesto, which called for democratic reforms. He died in July at a hospital while under surveillance. Liu Xia was last seen in public on July 15 at a memorial service for her husband. Friends and supporters have been prevented from meeting her. According to her friend, Beijing activist Hu Jia, Liu underwent uterine fibroid treatment around a month ago – the illness involves usually-benign muscular tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus.
