Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony May Be Delayed

Despite global pressure, China will not allow dissent Liu Xiaobo to travel to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which could delay the award ceremony. Xiaobo, 54, is serving an 11-year sentence for subversion, and his wife, Liu Xia, has been held under house arrest since news of the award broke last month. The Chinese government strongly disagrees with the Nobel’s awarding of the prize to Xiaobo, and has warned foreign governments to stay away from the Dec. 10 ceremony, as well as placed dozens of Chinese dissidents and intellectuals under surveillance in preparation for the event. In the past, countries have allowed family members to travel to Oslo for the ceremony, and the last time nobody was there to receive the award was in 1936, when Nazi Germany refused to let journalist and pacifist Carl von Ossietzky leave the country.