Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese writer, remains in prison after he was arrested on 8 December 2008. He is one of the 303 signatories of the manifesto "Charter 08", which addresses protection of human rights in the country.
The charter was released on the Internet on 10 December 2008, which marked the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It was reported that more than 101 signatories have experienced arrest, interrogation or harassment by the police. Two days before its release, the Beijing Public Security arrested Liu Xiaobo and Zhang Zuhuo. Liu has been detained until today for "inciting subversion against state power". Zhang was released after 12 hours of interrogation, but the police seized his computers, letters, money, ATM card and books related to the Tiananmen Square protest.
Many online posts on the charter have been removed by the Chinese authorities even before the day. Since 26 December all online search engines have been censored for sensitive terms. The China Central Propaganda Department also ordered the Chinese media not to report about the issue.
Charter 08 calls for political reform in the country. Among 19 demands, it includes calls for the separation of powers, democracy, freedom of _expression and election of people's representatives. The name derives from the Charter 77, launched in 1977 in Czechoslovakia for protection of human rights.
Recently Liu attracted international attention when the US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton failed to mention about him during her visit to China.
