Chinese Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo dies

Mr. Liu becomes the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who passed away in a hospital while held by the Nazis in 1938.

Chinese Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo has died, the government of the northeastern Chinese city of Shenyang, where he was being treated for late-stage liver cancer, said on July 13, 2017.

The Shenyang legal bureau said in a brief statement on its website that Mr. Liu had suffered multiple organ failure and efforts to save him had failed.

Mr. Liu was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for "inciting subversion of state power" after he helped write a petition known as "Charter 08" calling for sweeping political reforms. He was recently moved from jail to a hospital in Shenyang.

The cancer-stricken Mr. Liu suffered respiratory failure as his condition worsened on July 12, 2017, amid anger over his treatment by the authorities and control over information about his health.

The First Hospital of China Medical University in Shenyang said Mr. Liu's family declined to have him put on artificial ventilation, which was necessary "to maintain life".

"The hospital has explained the necessity of tracheal intubation to the patient's family, the family refused the tracheal intubation," the hospital said on its website.

The hospital, which earlier reported that he had suffered organ failure, said the democracy advocate's liver function had deteriorated despite three days of anti-infection and blood treatment.

Mr. Liu becomes the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate to die in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who passed away in a hospital while held by the Nazis in 1938.

Human rights groups said it was nearly impossible to obtain independent information about Mr. Liu's health given that he was in a heavily guarded hospital and his wife, who was with him and also not free. "What is on display is still the manipulation and control of information and dishonesty of the Chinese government," Human Rights Watch's Asia researcher Maya Wang had said.

The Chinese government had rebuffed international appeals to let Mr. Liu seek treatment abroad, saying he was getting the best possible care from top domestic doctors.