Foreign diplomats blocked by security guards at home of Liu Xiaobo’s widow

German and other embassy staff trying to find Liu Xia were stopped when they went to her Beijing flat, source says

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Security guards stop journalists from entering Liu Xia’s apartment building on July 17. Photo: EPA

Published: 11:15pm, 4 Aug 2017Updated: 12:30am, 5 Aug 2017

Foreign diplomats trying to locate the widow of late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo were blocked by security guards when they went to her Beijing flat on Thursday, a German embassy source said.

They were trying to ascertain the whereabouts of Liu Xia after her friends and family earlier this week said she had returned to Beijing following the death of her husband in a Shenyang hospital on July 13. Liu has had little contact with the outside world since then, and it is unclear whether she has been allowed to return to her home.

Liu Xia holds a portrait of Liu Xiaobo, while his brother Liu Xiaoguang (left) receives his ashes in Shenyang on July 15. Photo: AFP

A source with the German embassy told the South China Morning Post on Friday that German and other foreign diplomats tried to visit Liu’s Beijing apartment on Thursday but were stopped by security staff. “The uncertainty over Liu Xia’s whereabouts persists,” the source said.

Concerns have been mounting over the well-being of the 56-year-old poet and artist – who has been under house arrest for seven years – since her husband’s death.

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