Senator Jim Webb Calls for Release of Chinese Nobel Peace Prize Recipient

Following the release of Nobel Laureate and political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, Senator Jim Webb has called for the release of another Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Liu Xiaobo, now imprisoned in China.  
 

“China imprisons tens of thousands of political activists,” said Senator Webb, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs. “It has never held a national election, and it does not allow opposition voices or political dissent.
 

“Liu Xiaobo was imprisoned for advocating nonviolent political reform and fundamental freedoms for his fellow citizens. He is one of many proponents of human rights and democracy in China who have been persecuted for acting on their beliefs.”

 

In December 2009, Liu was sentenced to eleven years in prison under charges of subversion after he founded the Charter 08 campaign. The online charter was signed by thousands of Chinese in support of greater freedom of assembly, expression and religion in China. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2010 for his efforts to promote fundamental human rights in China. He is only the second person to win the peace prize while incarcerated.



During his historic 2009 meeting with Burmese Junta leader General Than Shwe, the only meeting the General has ever taken with an American leader, Senator Webb personally called on the General to release Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.  His statement regarding her recent release is available here: http://webb.senate.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/11-15-2010-01.cfm 

 

Senator Webb has enjoyed a continuous personal involvement in Asian and Pacific affairs that long predates his time in the Senate.  In addition to his more recent visits as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Webb has worked and traveled throughout this vast region for more than four decades, as a Marine Corps officer, a defense planner, a journalist, a novelist, a Department of Defense executive, and as a business consultant.