Beijing, China (CNN) -- The family of Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo may not be able to visit him in prison before the awards ceremony in December, a human rights group said Wednesday.
Liu's brother recently applied to visit him in prison, but could not reach the prison staff, said the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy.
Also, Liu told his wife during a prison visit last month that he would soon send letters to family members. But the family has not received any mail from him, the center said.
The center -- a one-man operation by a former student activist who fled China in 1989 -- monitors human rights abuses in the Chinese mainland.
Liu's brother, Liu Xiaoxuan, said he has a valid passport that would allow him to travel to Oslo, Norway, for the awards ceremony on December 10. But his workplace told him not to attend, according to the center.
The Nobel Committee outraged Beijing last month when it chose Liu, who co-authored Charter 08, a petition calling for political reform. Liu is serving an 11-year sentence for inciting subversion of state power.
The Chinese government condemned the Nobel Committee for honoring Liu, calling him a criminal.
After Liu's win, Chinese police briefly detained or put under house arrest several Liu supporters and other activists, including his wife, Liu Xia, the China Human Rights Defender said.
Mo Shaoping and Shang Baojun, attorneys who have represented Liu, said they have been barred from leaving China, and there is speculation that police are stopping them from attending the award ceremony
Mo said he was stopped by police ahead of a trip to London for an International Bar Association academic seminar and authorities said his traveling would "endanger national security". Shang was unable to get an entrance-exit permit.
CNN
