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Jailed Chinese dissident and writer Liu Xiaobo has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo on Friday, DPA reported.
Liu was unanimously chosen for his long-standing struggle for human rights in China, Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said. The committee, he added, believes "there is a close connection between human rights and peace."
Liu authored Charter 08, a political manifesto similar to the Charter 77 of one-time Czech dissidents.
He is currently serving an 11-year prison sentence for inciting subversion of state power in China.
The Chinese government was "in breach" of several international conventions and its own constitution including freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, Jagland told journalists in Oslo.
Liu's nomination was endorsed by, among others, Nobel peace laureates Desmond Tutu, South Africa's former Anglican archbishop, and the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet.
The prize - worth 10 million kronor (1.5 million dollars) - is due to be presented in Oslo on December 10.
The Nobel Committee considered a record 237 nominations for the 2010 prize.
Last year, US President Barack Obama was a surprise selection, winning the peace prize for "extraordinary efforts" in strengthening international diplomacy.
The peace prize is the fifth of the 2010 Nobel prizes to be awarded. The prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and literature were announced earlier in the week.
The prestigious prizes were endowed by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.