Liu's relatives had earlier put in a request for a visit Wednesday with the dissident writer at his prison in northeastern China but officials have been unresponsive, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

The Hong Kong-based organisation said in a statement that Liu's brothers Liu Xiaoguang and Liu Xiaoxuan and brother-in-law Liu Tong told the group they fear visits will be blocked through the December 10 Nobel award ceremony in Oslo.

Liu, 54, was sentenced to 11 years in prison last December on subversion charges after co-authoring Charter 08, a 2008 petition for political reform in China, which was widely circulated online and signed by thousands.

He was awarded the Peace Prize on October 8, enraging China's Communist rulers, who have denounced the Nobel Committee and placed Liu's wife Liu Xia under house arrest.

Liu's relatives also said the jailed writer told his wife during her last prison visit on October 10 that he planned to issue a public statement about his award, according to the group.

However, they have since heard nothing from Liu and suspect prison officials are blocking the statement, it quoted them as saying.

AFP was not immediately able to reach Liu's relatives.

The rights group did not say how it obtained the Liu family comments, but is known for its contacts in China.

Direct relatives of prison inmates are guaranteed the right to visit once a month under Chinese law, the rights organisation said.

Liu Xiaoxuan also had been told by his employers not to go to the Norwegian capital for the award ceremony, it said, giving no other details.

Liu Xia has been communicating with the outside world mainly through brief and sporadic Twitter postings, but they dropped off in mid-October.

She issued an open letter last month inviting her husband's friends and supporters to go to Oslo next month to accept the award on his behalf.

Diplomats last week said China's embassy in Oslo had sent letters to Western missions more or less implicitly cautioning them not to attend the ceremony, but many countries have said their envoys will be present.

The United States, France, Australia and others have praised Liu and called for his immediate release.

Attorney Mo Shaoping, whose firm represents Liu, told AFP he was stopped from leaving China on Tuesday with activist law professor He Weifang.

Mo, who was to attend a legal conference in London with no plans to visit Norway, also said others had been blocked recently to prevent them going to Oslo. Mo and He both signed Charter 08.

The government has launched a clampdown on its critics since Liu's Nobel win, with many taken into custody or placed under various restrictions.

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