Liu Xiaobo
People's Republic of China
president
government
Liu Xiaobo was a Chinese literary critic, human rights activist, philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who called for political reforms and was involved in campaigns to end Chinese Communist Party one-party rule in China. He was arrested numerous times, and was described as China's most prominent dissident and the country's most famous political prisoner. On 26 June 2017, he was granted medical parole after being diagnosed with liver cancer; he died a few weeks later on 13 July 2017.
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Sep 25, 2026
Far Right
Liu, the late Nobel laureate, is not in the articles but his legacy is invoked in pro-reform discussions of China's human rights record during Xi's Washington visit.
Pro-reform voices honor Liu as a martyr for democracy, arguing that his death in custody underscores the CCP's brutality toward peaceful dissent.