Reykjavík mayor Jón Gnarr, who met with Chinese officials yesterday, surprised them with a letter calling for the “immediate and unconditional release” of dissident writer Liu Xiaobo.
Liu Xiaobo was arrested and sentenced in December 2009 to eleven years in prison for “inciting subversion of state power”, in a trial condemned by the west as a sham.
Eyjan reports Best Party official Karl Sigurðsson as saying that the meeting the mayor had with Chinese Communist Party chairman in Beijing Liu Qi had been mostly positive. At the meeting’s conclusion, Jón handed them the letter. Karl said he didn’t know if the Chinese were insulted or simply did not know how to respond.
The letter in question, originally printed on Eyjan, can be seen here.