On December 31, 2009, PEN President K. Anthony Appiah delivered the following letter to the Chinese Mission to the UN following a rally calling for colleague Liu Xiaobo's release.

December 31, 2009

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
c/o The Permanent Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the UN
350 East 35th Street
New York, NY 10016


Your Excellency,

We are writing to protest in the strongest possible terms the conviction of our colleague Liu Xiaobo, who was sentenced last week by the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court to an 11-year prison sentence, with an additional two years’ deprivation of political rights.

As you know, PEN was deeply troubled by the arrest and prosecution of Mr. Liu, which from the outset appeared to be in retribution for his involvement in Charter 08—and, as such, was evidently a clear violation of his rights to freedom of expression and association.

We were further alarmed by the assertions of prosecutors in the days leading up to his trial that participation in a peaceful petition such as Charter 08 constitutes a “major crime”—when, again, the right to freedom of expression and to assemble peacefully and petition the government are clearly protected under Chinese and international law.

We were concerned and disappointed that attempts by organizations such as ours, and by individuals and governments around the world, to draw attention to the discrepancy between China’s commitments to these protections and its plans to prosecute Liu Xiaobo were mischaracterized as interference in China’s internal affairs.

Finally, as writers, we were shocked by Liu Xiaobo’s conviction and 11-year sentence, and by the fact that these were based on 224 Chinese characters from six articles he has written in the last four years and from Charter 08 itself. These passages seem to be no more than the expressions of an engaged citizen’s concerns and hopes for his country; pointing to these words as a pretext for violating that citizen’s human rights has only served to underscore the concerns Liu Xiaobo was raising in these writings.

In fact, the treatment of Liu Xiaobo is an international matter, just as all violations of human rights are matters of serious concern to the whole world. By detaining for more than a year, and then by convicting and sentencing Mr. Liu to 11 years in prison in clear violation of his most fundamental, internationally-recognized rights, the People’s Republic of China itself has guaranteed that his case is not and cannot be a purely internal affair.

Human rights are the legitimate concern of all human beings. That principle was established firmly in by the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. We in the United States have profited greatly from the work of Chinese writers from Confucius to the present day; you in China have drawn inspiration from works from all around the world. Indeed, without this cross-fertilization of ideas, the Chinese Communist Party itself could not have come into existence. The free exchange of ideas within and across nations is of the greatest importance for all mankind.

So, as an organization that this year celebrates its 50th year of coordinated efforts to defend writers and protect freedom of expression around the world, we find ourselves compelled to address ourselves to you again, and to plead for an immediate review and reversal of this very troubling decision.

PEN American Center stands in solidarity with our fellow writer, Liu Xiaobo, and with his family. Today, we gathered in New York to protest his conviction, and we will continue to focus attention on his case—and his courageous example—as we fight for his release in the days and months ahead. We are doing this not out of disrespect for China, its great cultural and historical achievements, or its emerging role as an influential nation. Rather, we are doing so out of admiration for our Chinese colleagues and our shared aspirations for a free and open exchange of literature and ideas between our two countries, indeed, between all nations. We look forward to the day when the government of China shares our admiration and aspirations. Meanwhile, we wish the People’s Republic could find better ways to acknowledge the significance of her writers than throwing them in prison.

Once again, we appeal to you personally to intervene to undo this egregious injustice and free Liu Xiaobo immediately.

On behalf of the Board of Trustees and the 3,400 members of PEN American Center,

Sincerely,

Kwame Anthony Appiah
President