Ai Weiwei accused western governments of failing to speak up for activists such as Liu for fear of damaging economic ties with Beijing. Photograph: Matej Divizna/Getty Images

The Chinese artist Ai Weiwei has added his voice to growing calls for China to release its most famous political prisoner, the critically ill Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Speaking for the first time about the plight of his longtime friend, who was recently diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer while serving an 11-year jail term, Ai urged Beijing to immediately free Liu, who was jailed in 2009 for his role in a pro-democracy manifesto called Charter 08.

I think the government should release him. This is a historic mistake, Ai told the Guardian from Berlin, where he now lives.

The government should just release him and have a better record because this is going to be remembered by the whole world what they are doing.

They [must] admit that this was a horrible mistake to sacrifice the best people in this nation the best minds in this nation and to put them in such a horrible situation. That is what they continue to do now and it is unacceptable.

Ai was speaking as Chinese president Xi Jinping came under intense pressure to let Liu, who doctors have said is close to death, leave the country for medical treatment.

Beijing has so far rebuffed calls from countries including the United States for the 61-year-old activist to be allowed to travel overseas, accusing them of meddling in its internal affairs.

Chinese doctors at the hospital where Liu has been receiving treatment since being granted medical parole several weeks ago claimed he was too unwell to be moved. However, that claim was contradicted on Sunday by two foreign specialists who were allowed to visit Liu in hospital, where he is reportedly under police guard.

While a degree of risk always exists in the movement of any patient, both physicians believe Liu can be safely transported with appropriate medical evacuation care and support, the German and US doctors said in a statement, adding that their hospitals were ready to offer Liu the best care possible.

That announcement sparked an immediate outcry, as friends, supporters and activists demanded Lius complete release.

Jared Genser, a US lawyer acting for Liu, said that if Xi refused to let the dying dissident seek potentially life-extending medical treatment abroad he would be viewed as having deliberately cut short a mans life.

My view is that if Xi doesnt do that then it will be viewed publicly as an extraordinarily callous and weak position for China to put itself in, Genser, who is known for his work with prisoners of conscience, including Aung San Suu Kyi, told the Guardian.

China can show its strength to the world and its security in its own governance by not being afraid of one man who has dared repeatedly to stand up to the one-party system, he added.

I hope and pray that we can succeed. We dont have a lot of time quite clearly so it is going to be a very difficult challenge. But I hope that President Xi will see that its in China interests to not be viewed as not only silencing a man but wilfully and intentionally shortening his life.

In a statement, a group of Chinese supporters said the doctors statement conclusively rebutted the official propaganda that it is unsafe for Liu Xiaobo to be transported overseas.

Liu Xiaobos life is now in imminent danger Any delay and obstruction are no different from a drawn-out murder, it said.

Amnesty International also appealed to Xi for Lius release. There is only one person in China that has the authority to rule on the fate of Liu Xiaobo and that is Xi Jinping, said Nicholas Bequelin, Amnesty Internationals East Asia director.

Ai, who has known Liu since the 1980s, said his friend, who Beijing claims tried to overthrow the Communist party, was unjustly imprisoned and now deserved the right to decide where he wanted to spend his final days.

He absolutely should be a free man and a free man should have a choice to make all the choices by himself, he said.

He should not have been sentenced. He should be completely out of jail, released without any conditions. He should be a free man, then he should make a free judgment about where to stay and where to get medical care, and who he wants to be associated with.

Ai also attacked what he described as the hypocrisy of western governments, which he accused of feigning concern for activists such as Liu, but had failed to speak up for them for fear of damaging economic ties with Beijing. To me, it is disgusting. For any Chinese [who] looks at that I mean, my God, just for the money, he said.

There are so many people, lawyers, or human rights defenders or activists, in jail, and many of them in secret detention without trial for years and they are all being mistreated, Ai said.

The artist accused western politicians of caring only about striking lucrative deals with Chinas authoritarian rulers.

Each of those deals sacrifices someone like Xiaobo. So dont pretend, when Liu Xiaobo is dying, or Liu Xiaobo [is in] such difficult circumstances, dont pretend anybody is innocent.

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'Liu Xiaobo should be a free man': Ai Weiwei joins calls to release dying dissident - The Guardian