Nobel Panel May Not Present Liu's Peace Prize

The Nobel Peace Prize committee is considering postponing Liu Xiaobo’s peace prize presentation, because neither the jailed dissident nor any of his family members can show up to receive it, the New York Times reports. “The ceremony will definitely take place,” said committee secretary Geir Lundestad, but “it looks likely” that they’ll skip the part where they’d usually formally present a diploma, medal and $1.5 million in prize money to the laureate.

The award can only be presented to the laureate or a close relative, and Liu’s wife has been under house arrest since the award was announced. Chinese authorities have called the award a “desecration” of the peace prize, and are pressuring foreign governments to boycott the ceremony or “bear the consequences.” So far Russia, Cuba, and Kazakhstan have all said they're not coming. (More Liu Xiabo Nobel Peace Prize stories.)