[7] After initially heeding her pleas, he went forward anyway, immersing himself for three years drafting and re-drafting the document, which he later persuaded more than 300 prominent workers, Chinese Communist Party members, and intellectuals to sign.
[8] In May 2011, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) made a statement declaring that "The deprivation of liberty of Liu Xia, being in contravention to articles 9, 10 and 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is arbitrary, and falls within categories II and III of the categories applicable to the cases submitted to the Working Group" and called for an immediate end to the house arrest.
Human rights activist Nicholas Bequelin asserted that this trial was therefore an act of attempted intimidation by the government in order to silence Liu Xia even further.
[13] On 19 November 2013, she filed an appeal for Liu Xiaobo's retrial, a move that's been called "extraordinary" because the action could refocus the world's attention on China's human rights record.
[15] In December 2013, a friend of hers, Hu, told BBC that three years of house arrest had thrown Liu into deep depression and a health professional had been prescribing anti-depressant medication for her.
French scholar Guy Sorman, a longtime friend of Liu Xia and her husband, transported the prints out of China and curated the exhibition at the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies at Columbia University.
Frank Lu Siqing, the founder of the Hong Kong-based Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, successfully spoke to Liu Xia on the phone for half an hour after calling her at her home in Beijing, South China Morning Post reports.
[19] Although Liu Xia is not generally seen as a social activist in her own right, unlike her late husband, and has never been accused or convicted of any crime, she has endured house arrest without charges and subject to 24-hour surveillance since 2010, in contravention of Article 39 of the 1982 Constitution of China, which states that "the freedom of movement of any law-abiding Chinese citizen shall not be infringed", as well as Article 252 of the Criminal Prosecution Ordinance, which states that "any act of violating the freedom of communication of any law-abiding Chinese citizen is strictly prohibited".
[22] Jerome Cohen, a professor at New York University and an expert in Chinese law and human rights, said he believed the rulers of one-party China would be reluctant to release Liu Xia in case she became a figurehead of resistance.
If she chooses to remain in China, the Chinese government should, in accordance with its international human rights obligations, immediately lift all the oppressive conditions that she has suffered".
Senator Marco Rubio penned an open letter to Liu Xia, "Current U.S. law gives the President of the United States the authority to impose visa bans and to freeze the assets of any foreign citizens who suppress basic human rights; surely the Chinese government's treatment of you and your husband meets this standard.
Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to meet with Liu Xia either at the U.S. embassy or her place of residence to understand her current situation and long-term wishes.
[21] Liao Yiwu spoke with Liu Xia on telephone on 8 April 2018 and they agreed that she would try to write an application at the German Embassy, but she cried, bursting into tears, that she had neither a computer nor smartphone to do it.