Liu Xiaobo | featured news

The blue-and-white upholstered chair reserved for him was empty, and his words were spoken not in his own voice, but by the Norwegian actress and movie director Liv Ulman. While the Nobel committee honored him with its prestigious Peace Prize in Oslo on Friday, Chinese dissident and intellectual Liu Xiaobo sat in isolation in a jail cell, some 4,000 miles away.

China will not yield to outside pressure on jailed Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, striking a combative tone the day before the award is due to be formally bestowed.

The wife of 2010 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo has been detained in her apartment in Beijing, China, and is not allowed to see people or use her telephone, a human rights group citing her attorney said Sunday.

Imprisoned Chinese democracy campaigner Liu Xiaobo on Friday won the Nobel Peace Prize - an award that drew furious condemnation from the authoritarian government and calls from world leaders including President Barack Obama for Liu's quick release.