WASHINGTON – A group of demonstrators gathered outside the Chinese Embassy in Washington Friday to shave their heads in solidarity with a political prisoner in China.

Liu Xia has been under house arrest in Beijing since 2010. She was arrested shortly after her husband, Liu Xiaobo, the imprisoned civil rights and democratic reforms advocate, was awarded the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in jail.

Liu was hospitalized recently, citing heart problems and depression from being detained at home. Her family has requested that she be allowed to seek medical treatment overseas, but the Chinese government has thus far refused.

Demonstrators called on the U.S. government to pressure China to release Liu and her husband.