OSLO -- Imprisoned and incommunicado in China, the Chinese writer and dissident Liu Xiaobo was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, his absence marked at the prize ceremony here by an empty chair.
The republic's consul general in Johannesburg, Johann Erikson, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Aristide was "under protection" and incommunicado in Bangui, the capital, but that it was unlikely that he would remain there long.
He joined a Taliban unit in July 2001 in Afghanistan, surrendered to the Northern Alliance in November, and has been sitting incommunicado in the Navy brig in Norfolk, Va., since April.
The officials also asked the Chinese for information on Ai Weiwei, the artist and social critic who has not been seen since he was seized this month, and Liu Xiaobo's wife, Liu Xia, an artist and poet who has been held incommunicado in the couple's apartment since her husband was named a Nobel laureate.
US officials involved in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah sought assurances that he would continue to be "in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life", thus ensuring that his story would never be revealed to the public.
Before subjecting a detainee to interrogation, a 2002 cable notes, C.I.A. officers sought assurances that he would "remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life".
In the event that he lived, they asked, in a cable, for "reasonable assurances that [Abu Zubaydah] will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life".
A different CIA document also partially declassified on Tuesday, dated weeks before Abu Zubaydah's waterboarding and cited in the Senate report, stated: "We need to get reasonable assurances that subject will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life".
Indeed, in the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report, CIA interrogators asked in a cable for "reasonable assurances" that he would "remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life" if he did not die during his interrogation.
Evidence that the team on the ground in Thailand felt that the new "aggressive methods" under discussion might cross the red line and cause permanent damage to Zubaydah was contained in a cable sent to headquarters on July 15 , 2002 "We need to get reasonable assurance that [Zubaydah] will remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life".
