MCLC: Liu Xia hospitalized

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: pjmooney <pjmooney at me.com>
Subject: Liu Xia hospitalized
***********************************************************

Source: Reuters (2/19/14):
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/20/us-china-activist-idUSBREA1J06U20
140220

Wife of China's jailed Nobel Laureate Liu hospitalized
By Sui-Lee Wee

(Reuters) - The wife of jailed Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo has
been admitted to a Beijing hospital after police refused to allow her to
seek medical help overseas, a close family friend said on Thursday.

Liu Xia, who has been under effective house arrest since her husband Liu
Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, suffers from heart problems,
possibly severe depression, and other ailments made worse during her time
under guard, her friends say.

She was admitted to another hospital earlier this month under heavy police
guard but the hospital told her to leave after a day without giving a
reason, said Mo Shaoping, a prominent human rights lawyer and a close
family friend.

Liu Xia was admitted to the second hospital on Tuesday but it is unclear
how long she will remain there because her family has been told by police
not to disclose details about her condition and whereabouts, Mo said.

"Her family had proposed seeking medical treatment overseas but the police
didn't approve it," Mo said. It was then that Liu's family was told to
find treatment for her in Beijing.

In December, Liu Xia's friends said she refused to seek medical help
because she is afraid of further punishment.

Liu, who has not been convicted of any crime, is rarely allowed out of her
home, except for occasional visits to her husband and family, and is
almost never permitted visitors.

Ye Du, a writer and a friend, said Liu told him of her heart problems when
they spoke recently by telephone.

"Last month, she said her heart was not feeling too good and she was sent
to the hospital, where they told her that her heart was lacking blood," Ye
said.

Ye confirmed Liu's family had asked to seek medical help for her overseas,
possibly in Europe, but police had rejected the request.

"The environment that she's been placed in, having been put under house
arrest for so many years, is the main reason (for her worsening health),
and they thought that going overseas was the only way they could fully
guarantee that she will have good treatment," Ye said.

Another friend, Ma Shaofeng, said Liu had told him when they spoke a week
ago she had suffered a heart attack.

The United States and the European Union have repeatedly urged China
<http://www.reuters.com/places/china?lc=int_mb_1001> to let Liu Xia move
freely again.

Liu Xiaobo, a veteran dissident involved in the 1989 Tiananmen Square
pro-democracy protests crushed by the Chinese army, was jailed for 11
years in 2009 on subversion charges for organizing a petition urging the
overthrow of one-party rule.

Liu Xia filed an extraordinary appeal for her husband's retrial last
month, a move that could renew the focus on China's human rights record.

The Chinese government says that Liu Xiaobo is a common criminal and has
rejected as unwarranted interference any criticism of its handling of the
case by foreign governments.

(Editing by Paul Tait
<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=paul.tait&>)