Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo

:: Imprisoned Chinese Nobel Peace Prize laureate and dissident Liu Xiaobo has been transferred to a hospital after being diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer, his former lawyer said Monday.

Liu, 61, was in stable condition at a hospital in the northeastern city of Shenyang, lawyer Mo Shaoping said. Liu was diagnosed on May 23 and prison authorities then allowed him the medical parole, Mo said.

Liu, China’s best-known political prisoner was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being convicted of inciting state subversion in 2009 for writing and disseminating Charter ‘08, a document calling for democracy.

The following year, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by the Norway-based Nobel committee, a move that greatly angered the Chinese government. In April, Beijing normalized relations with Oslo after a six-year hiatus.

It was not immediately clear if Liu was being allowed visits at the China Medical University No. 1 Affiliated Hospital in Shenyang. Mo said he believed Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, had traveled to the city.

Geng Shuang, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry, said Monday he was not aware of the latest development in Liu’s case.

The news of Liu’s diagnosis shocked and saddened fellow human rights activists in China.

“It’s known that Liu Xiaobo and his family have made a tremendous sacrifice for the cause of freedom and democracy in China,” said Shanghai-based legal scholar Zhang Xuezhong. “This is unfortunate news for him and his family, and it’s a blow to China’s democracy movement, as so many people have placed hope in him, and rightfully so.”

Zhang said no effort should be spared in treating Liu, and his family must be fully informed of his treatment plans. “His life is so important that I think he should get the best possible treatment with full knowledge of his family, even if his family has to make agreements” with the government, Zhang said.

Guo Yuhua, a professor of sociology at the elite Tsinghua Univeristy in Beijing, said she was angered by the news. “Those with conscience have given so much to this country, yet they are persecuted by the totalitarian rule,” she told AP. “Those who have done evil will sooner or later be held accountable, and written into the history to be spat on forever.”

She urged Beijing to provide the best medical treatment for Liu and facilitate his travel if he and his family wish to seek treatment outside China. “Life and dignity should be first and foremost in this case,” Guo said.

16 sentenced to 10 months prision

Australian and Chinese staff of a casino company pleaded guilty Monday to charges relating to gambling, and 16 were sentenced to nine or 10 months in prison, the company and an Australian official said.

The 19 defendants, including three Australians from the sales and marketing team of Australia’s Crown Resorts Ltd., were convicted by a court in Shanghai. Casino gambling, the marketing of casinos and organizing overseas gambling trips involving 10 or more people are illegal in China.

Eleven defendants were sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment and five defendants to 10 months, Crown Resorts said. Their time spent in detention since Oct. 14 will count toward their sentences.

The 16 were also fined a total of 8.62 million yuan ($1.3 million), which Crown Resorts is paying ex gratia, the company said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange.

The remaining three defendants who had been released on bail on Nov. 11 were not fined or sentenced to prison, Crown Resorts said.

“The three Australians and the other defendants pleaded guilty,” the Australian Consul General in Shanghai, Graeme Meehan, said outside the Baoshan District People’s Court.

Jason O’Connor, the head of Crown Resorts international VIP programs, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, and Australian-Chinese dual nationals Jenny Pan and Jerry Xuan received sentences of nine months, Meehan said.

The company said the court fined O’Connor 2 million yuan ($293,000), Pan 400,000 yuan ($59,000) and Xuan 200,000 yuan ($29,000). O’Connor, who is based in Melbourne, Australia, was also ordered deported.

Crown’s vice president in China, Malaysian Alfread Gomez, was also among the defendants.

Casino gambling and the promoting of gambling are illegal in mainland China, and agents are banned from organizing groups of more than 10 Chinese citizens to gamble abroad. According to Crown, the 17 current and two former employees were convicted of clauses including organizing gambling parties or being engaged in gambling as one’s main business, which carried a maximum sentence of three years in prison.

While illegal on the mainland, gambling is allowed in the Chinese enclave of Macau — Asia’s gambling center — and Chinese are often coveted by foreign casinos.