• Liu Xiaobo, China’s most famous political prisoner, is in critical condition, according to his doctors.

Their assessment appeared to contradict that of two foreign doctors, a German and an American, who a day earlier said Mr. Liu would be able to travel abroad to be treated for advanced liver cancer. Germany’s embassy sharply criticized the release of a video of their visit as propaganda, saying, “It seems that security organs are steering the process, not medical experts.”

Human rights advocates say his treatment is indicative of pattern in Chinese prisons, where denial of health care is a tool to intimidate and punish dissidents.