Jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo - accused of being a 'black hand' in the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement 22 years ago - has not been allowed to see his family for nearly eight months, raising concerns that he is being denied his basic rights in retaliation for winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
His wife, Liu Xia, last visited him in prison in Liaoning on October 10 - two days after the announcement that he had won the Nobel prize. She has been under house arrest since, with her mobile phone disconnected and visitors barred from seeing her.
She appears to have been cut off from the internet after her last Twitter message on October 18.
Liu Xiaobo's two brothers have not been allowed to visit him since August, they said.
'I fear it is not possible to see him,' said Liu Xiaoxuan . 'We have not been able to see him after the award.'
The Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy cited his other brother, Liu Xiaoguang, as saying that he had applied many times to visit his brother, but had been ignored. The family has not received letters from him since October and is worried about the health of Liu Xiaobo, who suffers from a chronic stomach ulcer.
He said Liu Xia was only allowed out once a week to see her parents for two hours, accompanied by police, and was not allowed to phone anyone apart from them.