The hospital treating Nobel prize winner Liu Xiaobo has said he is now “seriously ill”.

The jailed dissident was recently moved to hospital to be treated for late-stage liver cancer.

Liu was jailed in 2009 for “inciting subversion of state power” after he helped write a petition calling for political reforms.

In a statement the hospital said Liu was also suffering from kidney problems and that in his condition it was not appropriate to treat him with radiotherapy.

His family has been informed, it said.

Questions had earlier arisen over the possibility of Liu getting treatment abroad if authorities would let him.

Human rights groups had called for Liu to be allowed to visit doctors overseas with his wife.