"Any time a country imprisons its creative people, you know that's a country that's got to change," Albee, 81, said in an interview before the New York demonstration. The rally was organized by the PEN American Center, an international human- rights group that defends writers around the world. Anthony Appiah, the center's president and a Princeton University philosophy professor, expressed outrage at Liu's sentence and said the group would lobby for his release.

"We are proud to stand here in solidarity with our fellow writer and with his family," Appiah said as snow swirled around the steps of the library. Liu, 54, had been held in secret for more than a year before a two-hour trial on Dec. 23. An 11-page verdict was delivered on Christmas.

In addition to the prison sentence, Liu was banned from all political activity for two years. The former literature professor has published essays critical of the Chinese government, particularly its human-rights abuses and crackdown on dissent in foreign journals and on the Internet.

Mian Mian, a 39-year-old author from Shanghai whose realistic descriptions of life with drugs and among prostitutes, gangsters and failed artists, has attracted a large following of young readers, is suing Google for alleged copyright infringement. Sun Jingwei, her lawyer, told the Financial Times that the Haidian People's Court in Beijing would start hearings on December 29.

The case, the first brought against Google by a Chinese writer, underlines the risks that remain to Google's plan to build a digital library which could lay the groundwork for an "iTunes of books" and potentially transform the publishing industry.

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Mian Mian filed her complaint on October 23. The author demands that Google apologises for scanning part of her works, deletes the scanned content from its digital library and pays her Rmb60,000 ($8,800) in compensation, Mr Sun said. He added that the plaintiff had collected evidence of scans of Mian Mian's novels that could be found online although a complete scan of one of her books had been removed in mid-November.

The China Written Works Copyright Society (CWWCS) believes Google scanned thousands of books, by over 500 Chinese authors, into its digital library without their permission or compensation, said spokesman Chen Qirong. "Whether you are a small company or big company you still need to respect the copyright of the authors," Chen said.

Google countered by saying it had received permission from over 50 Chinese publishers who allowed the U.S. search giant to digitize more than 30,000 books to be found through Internet searches and for preview. "We believe the book search complies with international copyright law," said Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne.

Around 300 dissidents and intellectuals initially signed the text, and supporters say that 7,000 more have added their names since, despite censors repeatedly removing references to the charter from websites.

But Liu is the only signatory to have been detained for an extended period and police appear to believe that he took a lead in drafting the document. Others say they have been questioned repeatedly regarding the manifesto and Liu's role in its preparation. The author previously spent several years in prison for his involvement in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

"Liu Xiaobo's arrest and continued detention for being one of the original signatories of Charter 08, which calls for greater freedom of expression and democracy, demonstrates the extent of the ongoing restrictions imposed upon the people of China. We call for his immediate release," said Caroline McCormick, Executive Director of International PEN. Other writers who have signed International PEN's include novelists Don DeLillo, Ha Jin, Umberto Eco and JM Coetzee; and playwrights Tom Stoppard and Michael Frayn.

In order to win the privilege of hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics, the People's Republic of China pledged to improve its human rights record. This pledge included specific commitments to expand press freedom and protect such fundamental rights as the right to freedom of expression as it is guaranteed under international law and China's own constitution.

On December 10, 2007, PEN American Center, PEN Canada and the Independent Chinese PEN Center launched "We Are Ready for Freedom of Expression," a campaign aimed at holding China's leadership to these commitments. PEN’s campaign specifically called on the Chinese government to:

* release all writers and journalists currently imprisoned and stop detaining, harassing, and censoring writers and journalists in China;

* end Internet censorship and reform laws used to imprison writers and journalists and suppress freedom of expression; and

* abide by its pledge that "there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games."

Seven months later, we are unable to report significant improvements in any of these areas.

What we have witnessed instead has been a grinding and relentless campaign to jail or silence prominent dissident voices, including many of our colleagues from the Independent Chinese PEN Center, and new and brazen efforts to restrict or control domestic and international press. This report, issued one month before the Olympics open in Beijing, summarizes this discouraging lack of progress. It also offers glimpses of the vast, intricate nature of the suppression of human rights in China -- visits to families of targeted dissidents, interference with personal cell phones and computers, waylaying individuals on their way to meetings and banquets; niggling, widespread surveillance and dogged harassment often followed by detention, arrest, and in some cases, very long prison sentences.

The online writer was jailed for eight years in 2003, after posting comments that criticised official corruption. Last year Yahoo was accused of giving information to Beijing which led to the imprisonment of reporter Shi Tao. Reporters Without Borders called on Yahoo to release the names of all internet writers whose identities it has revealed to the Chinese authorities.

Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako insisted that in its dealings with China, the company "only responded with what we were legally compelled to provide, and nothing more". "We were rigorous in our procedures and made sure that only the required material was provided," she told the AFP news agency. But she added that: "The government of China is not required to inform service providers why they are seeking certain information, and typically does not do so." Reporters Without Borders said it was not acceptable for the firm to say it simply responded to requests from the authorities without knowing what the data would be used for. "This argument no longer holds water," the group said in a statement. "Yahoo certainly knew it was helping to arrest political dissidents and journalists, not just ordinary criminals."

The Chinese government enforces strict laws on internet use, blocking content it considers a threat, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre and notable dissidents. But major international firms wanting to do business in China, the world's number two internet market, are coming under increasing pressure from rights groups not to conform to Beijing's conditions. Four major US-based companies - Microsoft, Google, Yahoo and Cisco - have been accused of collaborating with China to censor the internet.

Zheng, a prolific Internet writer and poet, has been imprisoned since December 3 after writing articles critical of the Communist Party and Chinese government policy.

Zheng's trial lasted less than three hours and was attended by high-level authorities of northeast China's Liaoning Province, his brother Zheng Xiaochun told CPJ. Prosecutors cited 63 articles written by the journalist, and listed the titles of several essays in which he called for political reform, increased capitalism in China, and an end to the practice of imprisoning writers.

Zheng Yichun's defense lawyer Li Mingchang entered a guilty plea but argued that his client's writings are protected under Article 35 of the Chinese Constitution, which guarantees freedom of the press. Li said that this constitutional protection should outweigh charges of subversion brought under Article 105 of Chinese criminal law. He asked the court to consider the light sentence given last summer to Du Daobin, another Internet journalist who was charged with inciting subversion.

"I am an independent intellectual and my freedom is protected under the Chinese constitution," Zheng Yichun told the court, according to his brother. "If I committed a crime, I was not conscious of it. ... I am a patriot. ... I hope that the government will give me a chance."