Ms Liu Xia, the wife of human rights defender and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mr Liu Xiaobo, continues to be held under house arrest and largely incommunicado in her home in Beijing, one year after the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to her husband.

On 8 October 2010, Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

Liu Xiaobo was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment in December 2009 on charges of subversion of state power for the role he played in drafting Charter '08, a document calling for an end to one-party rule and its replacement by a system based on human rights and democracy. Liu Xia is a poet and a painter.

Following the announcement of the award in October 2010, limits were immediately placed on Liu Xia's freedom. Security around her apartment was increased, preventing her from leaving. Since then, friends, diplomats and journalists who have attempted to visit her have all been turned away by police at the gates of her compound. Her mobile phone and internet access have been cut off and she has been mostly confined to her home. She was permitted to visit her husband once in prison in north-eastern China with a police escort in the days following the announcement of the award, but since then, regular visits have been denied. It has been recently reported that Liu Xia was allowed to visit Liu Xiaobo for a second time in August 2011.

Liu Xia was initially able to communicate with the outside world via Twitter, but her internet access appears to have been blocked on 18 October 2010. In a brief moment of connectivity during the Chinese New Year in February 2011, Liu Xia was reportedly able to send an online message to a friend saying, “Can't go out. My whole family are hostages. So miserable. I'm crying. Nobody can help me.” This is believed to have been Liu Xia's last contact with the outside world.

Front Line believes Liu Xia is being targeted solely due to the fact that she is married to Liu Xiaobo. She has not been accused or convicted of any crime.

Front Line urges the authorities in China to:

1. Immediately and unconditionally release Liu Xia from her house arrest as Front Line believes that she has been detained solely as a result of her husband's legitimate human rights work;
   
   
2. Allow Liu Xia immediate and unfettered access to her family and lawyers, as well as reconnecting her lines of communication;
   
   
3. Take all necessary measures to guarantee the physical and psychological integrity and security of Liu Xia while under house arrest;
   
   
4. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in China are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions including judicial harassment.

For actions see: http://www.frontlinedefenders.org/act