Liu Xia, Wife Of Deceased Nobel Laureate Liu Xiaobo, Gone Missing, Family Friends Say

A day after Chinese Nobel Peace Prize-winning dissident Liu Xiaobo died of liver cancer in custody, friends have expressed concerns over his wife's whereabouts.

The friends said Friday they were not able to contact 56-year-old Liu Xia who, according to them, should be given freedom to move around, reports said.

Ever since Xiaobo won the Nobel prize in 2010 for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China," it has been a tough time for his wife Xia, who is under effective house arrest and was allowed to visit Xiaobo just once a month. Xiaobo was jailed for 11 years in 2009 for "incitement to subvert state power."

"Liu Xiaobo is a criminal who has been sentenced by Chinese judicial departments for violating Chinese law," the Chinese foreign ministry had said in a statement at the time of his Nobel win, reports said.

Read: Liu Xiaobo, Chinese Nobel Laureate, Gets Prison Parole For Cancer Treatment

However, along with him, his wife too suffered. She soon went into depression after being put under house arrest, and her friends said in 2013 she even feared being sent to a psychiatric hospital if she saw a doctor, BBC had reported.

After her house arrest, Xia has been denied free movement or the right to receive visitors. The basic need of going for a daily walk in a local park was snatched from her for fear that journalists might approach her to ask questions about her husband, Hu Jia, a fellow activist and a family friend, said.

Now, several family friends said they had failed in contacting Xia or confirming her whereabouts. The friends confirmed they were also concerned about other members of Xiaobo's family, Reuters reported.

Another family friend Shanghai-based writer Wen Kejian said Xiaobo's supporters would "pay very close attention to Liu Xia's freedom."

According to a report, Kejian said: "I think, no matter what, she should be granted complete and unconditional freedom."

Friends and supporters have also urged the international community to take immediate steps to protect Xia from years of government persecution as this was the dying wish of Xiaobo.

Amnesty International tweeted about standing in solidarity with Xia and other family members during the time of Xiaobo's death.

Several other social media users tweeted about protecting the freedom of Xiaobo's love.

Read: Quick Facts About Liu Xiaobo

Xia was a civil servant and a budding young poet when she met Xiaobo in the mid-1980s. Both were married to different people; they would meet often as they were a part of a bohemian intellectual circle which often gathered at Xia's home, the Guardian reported.

Xiaobo’s biographer Yu Jie said Xiaobo was a young intellectual and a "womanizer" who "found time for 'hanky panky' even as mass demonstrations gripped Beijing in the spring of 1989." Xiaobo's marriage to his wife broke while he was in jail for his participation in Tiananmen Square protests, and at the same time Xia's marriage ended too. After he was released from jail, they fell in love.

“I found all the beauty in the world in this one woman,” Xiaobo once said.