Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo wins Nobel Peace Prize

Oslo - Jailed Chinese dissident and writer Liu Xiaobo has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo on Friday.Liu was unanimously chosen for his "long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China, the committee said.Announcing the prize, Nobel Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said the committee wanted to speak "with a strong voice to support human rights". "When a man is sentenced to 11 years in prison for expressing his opinion, it would be impossible for the Nobel Committee not to hand out the prize," he said.The committee had not been in touch with Liu regarding the prize and would approach Chinese authorities to ask them to inform him about winning the prize, according to Jagland.Liu authored Charter 08, a political manifesto similar to the Charter 77 of one-time Czech dissidents. He was arrested at his Beijing home ahead of the charter's planned release.He was jailed in December for inciting subversion of state power in China. He had previously spent some five years in various forms of detention and many more under police surveillance.His efforts have won him many admirers inside and outside the country.Norwegian reporters in the Chinese capital Beijing on Friday said police were preventing Liu's wife, Liu Xia, from leaving her home to talk to them and had posted a sign saying interviews were not allowed.Norway's public broadcaster NRK however reported that Liu Xia had sent a message via Twitter, reacting to the news. The report said she had tweeted: "totally shocked + so happy, regret he can't share moment, great honour but also means great responsibilities."NRK meanwhile also reported that authorities were preventing US and British broadcasters CNN and BBC from transmitting to China.Liu joins a line of dissident voices awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, dating back to 1936 when the award went to German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, followed over the decades by South African opponents of apartheid, Albert Lutuli and Desmond Tutu, were awarded the prize. Beijing was angered when the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader won the prize in 1989.Jagland on Friday stressed that the five-member committee was independent of the Norwegian government and parliament, acknowledging possible fallout from the decision to award Liu since Oslo and Beijing are discussing a free trade agreement."We have a responsibility to speak when others are not able or willing to speak," Jagland said. "It is very important to look at the fact that China has become a big power in economic and political terms," he said. "It is important that big powers should be under criticism and debate... as was the case with the United States after the Second World War."Nobel Committee secretary Geir Lundestad was earlier this year approached by a Chinese official about the possible choice of a dissident, Jagland said, adding that this was "not normal."Liu's nomination was endorsed by among others Tutu and the Dalai Lama.The prize - worth 10 million kronor (1.5 million dollars) - is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10. The Nobel Committee considered a record 237 nominations for the 2010 prize.Last year, US President Barack Obama was a surprise selection, winning the peace prize for "extraordinary efforts" in strengthening international diplomacy.The peace prize is the fifth of the 2010 Nobel prizes to be awarded. The prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and literature were announced earlier in the week.The prestigious prizes were endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.