Asia Times Online, 20 Dec 2008, Verna Yu
BEIJING - The recent arrest of Chinese dissident writer Liu Xiaobo after he took part in a high-profile signature campaign that calls for more freedoms and political reform is a sign that human-rights issues still touch a raw nerve with the Chinese government.
Liu, a prominent critic of the Chinese government who was imprisoned for 20 months for participating in the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, was taken away by police on December 8 - shortly after "Charter 08" was circulated online to mark International Human Rights Day and the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A week later, his whereabouts remain unknown and his wife is still denied access to him, even though Chinese law requires police to notify the families of detainees within 24 hours.
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