A chair and two police hats are used to keep in place police tape outside a Beijing courthouse which upheld an appeal on the 11-year jail term for leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was convicted on Christmas Day on subversion charges on February 11, 2010. The initial conviction of Liu, who co-authored Charter 08, a manifesto calling for bold political reform, on charges of 'inciting subversion of state power' prompted indignation from Western governments and rights group with the US and the EU calling for Liu's immediate release after his 11-year jail term was upheld on appeal.

Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo (L) and his wife Liu Xia pose for a photograph in Beijing, 22 October 2002. Liu Xiaobo, a hunger striker from the 1989 demonstrations, frequently writes essays published overseas criticizing the government and advocating changes. Plainclothes police are stationed outside his apartment building, or follow him around, even interrogating friends he visits.

Pro-democracy protesters hold the picture of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo with Chinese words "Release Liu Xiaobo" during a demonstration outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong Friday, Oct. 8, 2010. Imprisoned Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for using non-violence to demand fundamental human rights in his homeland.

A Chinese policeman controls the foreign media outside the apartment compound where jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo's home is located, in Beijing on October 8, 2010. China said that the Norwegian Nobel committee has 'violated' the integrity of the Peace Prize by awarding it to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo and warned that Oslo would suffer.

hinese policemen close the gate to the apartment compound where jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo home is located, in Beijing on October 8, 2010. China said that the Norwegian Nobel committee has 'violated' the integrity of the Peace Prize by awarding it to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, announces October 8, 2010 that jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010, for decades of non-violent struggle for human rights, an award that Beijing had anticipated and bitterly criticised. Jagland said on Friday China, the world's second biggest economy, should expect to be under greater scrutiny as it becomes more powerful, just as the United. States was after World War Two. Earlier this year, Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Fu Ying had warned the head of the Nobel Institute against granting the prize to Liu, saying it would damage ties between China and Norway as they negotiate a bilateral trade deal. At right Mr. Geir Lundestad, director of the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Thorbjoern Jagland, holds up a photograph of jailed Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, after announcing October 8, 2010, that Liu is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010, for decades of non-violent struggle for human rights, an award that Beijing had anticipated and bitterly criticised.