Update | ‘There is nothing I fear now’: Liu Xia, detained widow of Liu Xiaobo, tells exiled friend she is ready to ‘die at home’ in protest
Liao Yiwu says the 57-year-old poet – who has been under house arrest since 2010 – told him ‘Xiaobo has already left, there is nothing in this world for me’
Liu Xia, widow of dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo, says she is “ready to die at home” in protest after being kept under house arrest for nearly eight years, according to her friend and exiled Chinese writer Liao Yiwu.
Liao, who lives in Berlin, revealed Liu Xia’s despair at being unable to leave China in an open letter published on Wednesday that gave details of a phone call between Liao and Liu, and behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to secure Liu’s release.
“There is nothing I fear now. If I can’t leave, I’ll just die at home. Xiaobo has already left, there is nothing in this world for me. Dying is easier than living – there is nothing simpler for me than to protest with death,” Liao quoted Liu as saying during the phone conversation on Monday.
The exiled writer said he was shocked by Liu’s reaction, and it prompted him to release a seven-minute recording of an earlier conversation he had with Liu, with her consent.
“German Chancellor [Angela] Merkel is coming [to China] soon. We want as many organisations and individuals as possible to hear Liu Xia’s own voice,” Liao said.
In the audio clip of that call on April 8, Liu is emotional and can be heard crying. She tells Liao she is ready to leave China and already has her bags packed. “You can record this now: I’m so angry that I’m ready to die here ... If I’m dead, it’ll all be done with,” Liu tells Liao.
Liu, a 57-year-old poet, painter and photographer, has been under house arrest since 2010, but has never been charged with any offence by the Chinese authorities. Overseas appeals for her release peaked in July last year after her husband died of liver cancer in custody.
