Widow of China dissident Liu Xiaobo in desperate plea for help after years under house arrest

Liu Xia, the wife of Nobel Peace laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo, has made a desperate plea for help, telling friends she is willing to die at home in protest after being kept under house arrest for several years. The 57-year-old poet was put under house arrest in 2010 after her husband was awarded the peace prize for his rights campaigning in China, and calls for her release have grown louder since his death last year. “Now, I’ve got nothing to be afraid of. If I can’t leave, I’ll die in my home," Ms Liu said in a phone call to Liao Yiwu, a Chinese writer who posted the comments on the chinachange.org website. "Xiaobo is gone, and there’s nothing in the world for me now. It’s easier to die than live. Using death to defy could not be any simpler for me,” added Ms Liu, who has never been charged or convicted for an offence. Liu Xiaobo death in hospital last year after a battle with liver cancer sent shockwaves through China’s activist community and among human rights campaigners across the world. The dissident and veteran of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 was jailed in 2009 for state subversion. Liu Xia, the wife of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, holds a photo of her husband during an interview in Beijing in 2010 Credit: Reuters His death prompted calls for Liu Xia to be allowed to leave China from politicians across the world, including Rex Tillerson, the former United States’ Secretary of State, and Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French Foreign Minister. Mr Liao, who lives in exile in Germany, said he and other friends of Mrs Liu had been making preparations for her to come to Germany and receive treatment. She is reportedly suffering from a series of health problems, including severe depression. This photo taken on 2002 shows Liu Xiaobo (L) and his wife Liu Xia (R) posing for a picture in Beijing Credit: AFP Last week, German ambassador to China Michael Clauss told the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post that Ms Liu would be welcomed in his country.  Chinese state media have previously said that Ms Liu was “a free person” who just wished to be left alone, while Beijing has said that the issue is an internal affair. China has previously allowed dissidents to live abroad, but President Xi Jinping has overseen a wide-ranging crackdown on the country's rights movement since he assumed power five years ago.