The Nobel Peace Prize 2010 was awarded to Liu Xiaobo "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China," a statement from the Nobel awarding committee in Oslo, Norway, said.

But "the incarcerated Chinese criminal," as he was described in the online version of the English-language Chinese newspaper Global Times, has been languishing in jail since December, his fourth time in prison.

Writer and human rights activist Liu, 54, was given the harshest punishment for a dissident in 20 years when he was sentenced to 11 years in jail, plus two years deprivation of political rights, for "inciting subversion of state power."

Liu published six articles on the Internet, including for the BBC, and helped organize Charter 08, a petition inspired by the Charter 77 dissident movement in communist Czechoslovakia. More than 10,000 people have signed Charter 08, which called for the abolition of the law on subversion and, in particular, an end to "the practice of viewing words as crimes."

The award to Liu was a "paranoid" choice, the Global Times said.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu called it "an obscenity against the Peace Prize" and the committee's action might hurt China's relations with Norway, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.

But Liu reportedly broke down in tears upon hearing of the award from his wife who traveled 300 miles from Beijing to the prison.

His wife, Liu Xia, said her husband collected the award on behalf of the "martyrs" who died during deadly military crackdown in June 1989 in Tiananmen Square. Liu was there that day when 241 people, including soldiers and policemen, died and 7,000 were injured, according to official Chinese estimates, in the brutal and televised military crackdown on the pro-democracy protesters.

Freedom Now, a group of international human rights activists that represents Liu, said his wife was put under house arrest immediately once authorities knew that she had told her husband of the award and her cell phone account was stopped.

Liu was born in Changchun, the capital of Jilin province, which borders North Korea, in 1955. During the Cultural Revolution, 1969-73, his family was sent to Inner Mongolia as part of Chairman Mao Zedong's drive to ensure the country's intellectual elite worked on farms.

He went on to study at Jilin University and obtained a bachelor's degree in literature and a master's degree in 1984 from Beijing Normal University where he joined the faculty and gained a doctoral degree in 1988.

In 1988-89, he was a visiting scholar at several universities outside of China, including Columbia University, the University of Oslo and the University of Hawaii.

The Peace Prize award to Liu has refocused human rights groups on freedom issues within China.

Amnesty International called for China to release all prisoners of conscience. Liu is a "worthy winner" and that the award should "keep the spotlight on the struggle for fundamental freedoms and concrete protection of human rights" in China.

Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's deputy Asia-Pacific director, said the award will be more than worthwhile if it puts more international pressure on China to release Liu "along with the numerous other prisoners of conscience languishing in Chinese jails for exercising their right to freedom of expression."

Human Rights Watch, which earlier this year honored Liu with the 2010 Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism for his commitment to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly in China, also applauded the Nobel award to Liu.

"This award will no doubt infuriate the Chinese government by putting its human rights record squarely back into the international debate," Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said. "But this Nobel Prize honors not only Liu's unflinching advocacy, it honors all those in China who struggle daily to make the government more accountable."

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 90 times to 120 Nobel laureates beginning in 1901 -- 97 times to individuals and 23 times to organizations. The International Committee of the Red Cross won in 1917, 1944 and 1963 and the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees won in 1954 and 1981.

The award often brings with it praise and condemnation, as well as sincere surprise as it did in 2009 when winner U.S. President Barack Obama viewed it as a "call to action."

Obama also said he didn't feel he deserved to be in the company of some of the "transformative figures" who had previously received the award. These include Mother Teresa in 1979 and in 1984 South African anti-Apartheid activist Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Another contentious winner for the Chinese government was the 1989 Peace Prize laureate, the self-exiled Tibetan religious leader, the 14th Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama, who lives in India after fleeing Tibet ahead of a Chinese army in 1959, welcomed the 2010 award to Liu.

"Awarding the peace prize to him is the international community's recognition of the increasing voices among the Chinese people in pushing China toward political, legal and constitutional reforms," he said. "I believe in the years ahead, future generations of Chinese will be able to enjoy the fruits of the efforts that the current Chinese citizens are making towards responsible governance."

But the Global Times, in its article condemning the award to Liu, also criticized the Dalai Lama, as it has on many occasions.

"In 1989, the Dalai Lama, a separatist, won the prize," the Global Times said. "Liu Xiaobo, the new winner, wants to copy Western political systems in China. There are many different perspectives to view these two people but neither of the two is among those who made constructive contributions to China's peace and growth in recent decades."

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