Twenty-four Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers have issued an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for Liu Xia’s release. and urging for her freedom to move overseas.
The widow of late Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo said that she is ready to “die at home” following eight years of house arrest, according to a recent recording. Liu Xia has never been charged with a crime.
In a faxed letter, the lawmakers expressed their “great concern and anger.”
“Liu Xia has already lost her family,” Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki said on Wednesday. He said political factors were behind the imprisonment of Liu Xia’s brother, and her parents have died during her house arrest.
“Liu Xia is a widow who is not a threat, but the Chinese Communist Party will not give her up,” he said. “We are very worried about the recent recording. We are very worried that Liu Xia may commit suicide if she has no other way out.”
Kwok said Xi often told foreign countries that China is a country governed in accordance with the law.
“I hope President Xi can fulfil his promise and give Liu Xia her freedom,” he said. “I don’t know where Liu Xia wants to go. But as a Chinese citizen, she has her rights under the constitution, including the freedom to apply to go overseas.”
“She has suffered a lot already. She doesn’t have to suffer more,” he added.
