Appeal to the Chinese government concerning Liu Xiaobo and his wife Liu Xia

Nobel Peace Prize Laureat Liu Xiaobo has been diagnosed with liver cancer. His wife, Liu Xia, who has been under house arrest for several years, is also gravely ill. They have the wish to travel to Germany so they can receive medical care. Their wish to leave China is so strong that Liu Xiaobo has stated that – if he is to die – he does not want to do so on Chinese soil. Liu Xia also no longer wishes to live there. Time is running. We urge the Chinese government to grant Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia the freedom to leave the country!

Der Friedensnobelpreisträger Liu Xiaobo ist an Leberkrebs erkrankt. Er und seine Frau Liu Xia haben hat den Wunsch geäussert, nach Deutschland auszureisen, um medizinische Hilfe für beide zu bekommen - denn auch Liu Xia, die seit Jahren unter Hausarrest steht, ist schwer erkrankt. Der Wunsch der beiden geht soweit, dass Liu Xiaobo sagt, er möchte - selbst wenn er sterben muss - nicht in China sterben. Und Liu Xia sagt, dass sie nicht länger in China leben möchte. Die Zeit ist knapp. Wir appellieren dringend an die chinesische Regierung: geben sie diesen beiden Menschen die Freiheit, das Land zu verlassen!

Gémino H. Abad, Philippines

Héctor Abad, Colombia

Melinda Nadj Abonji, Hungary/ Switzerland

Shane Anderson, USA/ Germany

Chloe Aridjis, Mexico/ UK

Homero Aridjis, Mexico

Elisabeth Åsbrink, Sweden

John Ashbery, USA

Ayo Ayoola-Amale, Ghana

Dieter Bachmann, Switzerland

Zsófia Bán, Hungary

Priya Basil, UK/ Germany

María Cecilia Barbetta, Germany/ Argentina

Detlev Claussen, Germany

Hélé Béji, Tunisia

Yahia Belaskri, France/ Algeria

Gaston Bellemare, Canada

Carmen Berenguer, Chile

Charles Bernstein, USA

Mahi Binebine, Morocco Marica Bodrožić, Germany

Anneke Brassinga, Netherlands

Pam Brown, Australia

Amir Hassan Cheheltan, Iran

Hans Christoph Buch, Germany

Ian Buruma, USA

Magda Carneci, Romania

Bernardo Carvalho, Brazil

Patrizia Cavalli, Italy

Chris Ceustermans, Belgium

Raquel Chalfi, Israel

Yiorgos Chouliaras, Greece

J.P. Cuenca, Brazil

Krystyna Dąbrowska, Poland

Ankalina Dahlem, Germany

Achmat Dangor, South Africa

Michael Martin Day, USA

Radka Denemarková, Czech Republic

Katelijne De Vuyst, Belgium

Lidija Dimkovska, Macedonia

Hemant Divate, India

Ariel Dorfman, Chile

Regina Dyck, Germany

Ashur Etwebi, Libya

Marjorie Evasco, Philippines

Arturo Fontaine, Chile

Nina Frahm, Germany

Alisa Ganieva, Russia

László Garaczi, Hungary

Stefanie Geiger, Germany

Luca Giuliani, Germany

Namita Gokhale, India Philip Gourevitch, USA

Patricia Grace, New Zealand

Rawi Hage, Canada

Joy Harjo, USA

JoeAnn Hart, USA

Kevin Hart, USA

Franz Hohler, Schweiz

Peter Holvoet-Hanssen, Belgium

David Howard, New Zealand

Stanka Hrastelj, Slovenia

David Huerta, Mexico

Iman Humaydan, Lebanon

J. K. Ihalainen, Finland

Anna Livion Ingvarsson, Sweden

Hilde Susan Jaegtnes, Norway

Elfriede Jelinek, Austria

Birgitta Jonsdottir, Iceland

Ha Jin, China / USA

Pierre Joris, Luxembourg/ USA

Peter Stephan Jungk, USA/ Austria

Anja Kampmann, Deutschland

Hilde Keteleer, Belgium

Boris Khersonsky, Ukraine

Lyudmila Khersonsky, Ukraine

Yitzhak Laor, Israel

Patrick Lateur, Belgium

Angelina Llongueras, Catalonia

Sindiwe Magona, South Africa

Valerio Magrelli, Italy

Vasyl Makhno Ukraine/ USA

Afrizal Malna, Indonesia

Norman Manea, USA/ Romania Angeles Mastretta, Mexico

Ian Mc Ewan, UK

Zakes Mda, South Africa/ USA

Eva Menasse, Germany

Robert Menasse, Austria

Hala Mohammad, Syria

Paula Morris, New Zealand

Mehdi Mozafari, Denmark

Verónica Murguía, Mexico

Herta Müller, Romania/ Germany

Taslima Nasrin, Bangladesh

Quito Nicolaas, Netherlands

Bahman Nirumand, Iran/ Germany

Norman Ohler, Germany

Michael Ondaatje. Canada

E.C. Osondu, Nigeria/ USA

Elsa Osorio, Argentina

Ruth Padel, UK

Connie Palmen, Netherlands

Sigurdur Pálsson, Iceland

Andras Petöcz, Hungary

Elisabeth Plessen, Germany

Ahmed Rashid, UK/ Pakistan

Pjeroo Roobjee, Belgium

Gabriel Rosenstock, Ireland

Patrick Roth, USA/ Germany

Salman Rushdie, USA

Alberto Ruy-Sánchez, Mexico

Abdelaziz Baraka Sakin, Sudan

Neftali Sandoval-Vekarich, Colombia

Boualem Sansal, Algeria

Agus R. Sarjono, Indonesia Rati Saxena, India

Ulrich Schreiber, Germany

Ingo Schulze, Germany

Ruta Sepetys, USA

Eduardo Sguiglia, Argentina

Elif Shafak, Turkey/ UK

Gereon Sievernich, Germany

Tzveta Sofronieva Bulgaria/ Germany

Wole Soyinka, Nigeria

Peter Stamm, Switzerland

Stephanos Stephanides, Cyprus

George Szirtes, UK

Jüri Talvet, Estonia

Janne Teller, Denmark

Shashi Tharoor, India

Madeleine Thien, Canada

Annika Thor, Sweden

Olga Tokarczuk, Poland

Dubravka Ugresic, Netherlands

Jane Urquhart, Canada

Stefaan van den Bremt, Belgium

Ann Van Dessel, Belgium

Tom Van Imschoot, Belgium

Joke van Leeuwen, Belgium

Tomas Venclova, Lithuania

Dirk Verhofstadt, Belgium

Peter Vermeersch, Belgium

Olivia Vieweg, Germany

Santiago Villafania, Philippines

Haris Vlavianos, Greece

Jan Erik Vold, Norway

Peter Völker, Germany Nyein Way, Myanmar

Ian Wedde, New Zealand

Niña Weijers, Netherlands

Eliot Weinberger, USA

Herbert Wiesner, Germany

Stefan Ludmilla Wieszner, France

Charlotte Wood, Australia

Jeffrey Yang, USA

Samar Yazbek, Syria

Liao Yiwu, China