A Beijing court has sentenced Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo to 11 years in prison for inciting subversion of state power.

The 53-year-old writer and professor of literature helped organise the Charter 08 petition last year calling for greater democracy in China but was arrested before it was published. He previously served years in prison for playing a prominent part in the mass pro-democracy demonstrations on Tiananmen Square in 1989.

The United States, the European Union and human rights activists have criticised Liu Xiaobo's conviction as political persecution and have called on China to release him.