PEN American Center - TAKE ACTION: Send an Appeal Demanding the Immediate Release of Liu Xiaobo

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TAKE ACTION: Send an Appeal Demanding the Immediate Release of Liu Xiaobo

Please send an appeal to Chinese President Hu Jintao and Procurator General Cao Jianming calling for the release of writer and prominent PEN member Liu Xiaobo. We recommend using two methods of sending your appeal in order to ensure your voice is heard:

1. Send an e-mail. Click here to personalize and send the below letter to Chinese officials. If a formatted e-mail does not pop up in your e-mail program, copy and paste the below letter and e-mail it to info@china.org.cn and web@spp.gov.cn with a cc to ftw@pen.org.

2. Send a letter. Copy and personalize the following letter to your personal or institutional letterhead and send via post to the addresses provided. Postage to China is $0.98.

[Date]

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R. China

Mr. Cao Jianming
Procurator General
Supreme People's Procuratorate
No. 147, Beiheyan Dajie
Dongcheng District, Beijing 100726
P.R. China

Your Excellencies,

I am writing to protest the detention of prominent writer and former president and current board member of the Independent Chinese PEN Center Liu Xiaobo.

I understand that on December 8, 2008, police arrested Liu Xiaobo and searched his home and confiscated computers and other materials. He was held at an undisclosed location for more than six months under “residential surveillance” before being formally arrested and charged with “inciting subversion of state power” on June 23, 2009. If convicted, he could face up to 15 years in prison. He is among a number of activists to have been targeted after launching Charter 08, a declaration outlining political reforms and calling for greater human rights. The manifesto, signed by more than 300 scholars, journalists and freelance writers, was released on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, commemorated every year on December 10.

I respectfully urge you to facilitate Liu Xiaobo’s immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory.

Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.

Sincerely,

[Your name and address]

CC:
Larry Siems
Director, Freedom to Write and International Programs
PEN American Center
588 Broadway, Suite 303
New York, NY 10012


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