President Donald Trump was deeply saddened by the death of prominent Chinese "political prisoner" Liu Xiaobo, the White House said today, describing him as a "courageous advocate" who dedicated his life to the pursuit of democracy and liberty in the Communist nation.


Liu, who had spent more than a decade behind bars in China for his advocacy of political reform, including taking part in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, was serving a 11-year prison term for "subversion" when he was diagnosed with late stage liver cancer in May this year.


Beijing had refused to allow him seek treatment abroad despite Liu's wishes and international pressure. His death, of multiple organ failure at the age of 61 yesterday, makes Liu the first Nobel Peace laureate to die in state custody since Carl von Ossietzky in Nazi Germany in 1938.