China’s late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo cremated

In this photo provided by the Shenyang Municipal Information Office, Liu Xia, center, wife of jailed Nobel Peace Prize winner and Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, holds a portrait of him during his funeral at a funeral parlor in Shenyang in northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, Saturday, July 15, 2017. China says the body of Liu Xiaobo, who died this week after a battle with liver cancer, has been cremated. The government of the city of Shenyang in northeastern China, where Liu was treated, said in a briefing that the cremation took place Saturday morning in a ceremony attended by family and friends. (Shenyang Municipal Information Office via AP)

SHENYANG, China—The body of China’s late Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo was cremated on Saturday after a ceremony attended by his wife and friends, two days after the dissident lost a battle with cancer while in custody.

Liu’s body was cremated “in accordance with the will of his family members and local customs” in the northeastern city of Shenyang, said Zhang Qingyang, an official from the municipal office.

Officials released photos showing his wife, the poet Liu Xia, with her brother, Liu Xiaobo’s brother and friends in front of the body surrounded by white flowers at a funeral home.

“Since she had just lost her husband, she was in very low spirits,” Zhang said.

China’s government has come under international criticism over its treatment of the democracy advocate and his wife, who has been under house arrest since 2010.

Western governments have called on Beijing to release Liu Xia and let her travel abroad.

The foreign ministry lashed out at the criticism on Friday, saying it lodged official protests with the United States, Germany, France and the United Nations human rights office.