A Chinese court today upheld an 11-year prison sentence for prominent dissident Liu Xiaobo for writings that called for multi-party democracy. Liu's lawyer told newsmen that his client's appeal to the High Court had been rejected with no change in his sentence, which was meted out in December last year by the Beijing Intermediate People's Court. Liu, 54, was convicted of subversion for helping organise the "Charter 08" manifesto, which called for sweeping political reforms. Mr Liu was previously jailed over the 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, Diplomats from the United States and the European Union who had called for his immediate release condemned the sentence.