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Na razie po angielsku ale ju┐ wkr≤tce po polsku. Petycje zosta│y ╢ci▒gniΩte ze strony Milarepa Fund i tam te┐ kieruj▒ odno╢niki. Na co czekacie? Do dzie│a! Free Political Prisoners
Lhakpa Tsering (photo unavailable) was arrested at the age of 19 for joining a pro-independence group and putting up posters at his school in Lhasa, Tibet. He was sentenced to three years in prison. A year after his arrest, he refused to comply with increased restrictions in his prison and was severely beaten by prison guards. He died shortly thereafter.
Gyaltsen Pelsang was detained at the age of thirteen with eleven other nuns for planning a nonviolent protest. Although she was never charged formally, she was held in prison for nearly two years. She was released, as her medical condition began to deteriorate. There are currently over a dozen nuns under the age of fifteen who are suffering in Chinese prisons. Do letter-writing campaigns really work?
To demand the release of these and other political prisoners, send letters to the following people:
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The Panchen Lama, the
second most important religious figure in Tibet, is missing. At the age of
six, Gendun Choekyi Nyima was recognized by the Dalai Lama as the
11th Panchen Lama of Tibet. Immediately after the Dalai Lama
recognized him, he and his family disappeared and all the monks that were
involved in selecting him were arrested by Chinese authorities. The senior
monk in this search party was recently sentenced to six years in prison.
Gendun Choekyi Nyima's whereabouts are still unknown.
Ngawang Choephel is a
Tibetan Fulbright Scholar who studied ethnomusicology at Middlebury
College in Vermont. Ngawang grew up in exile in India and visited Tibet
for the first time in May of 1995 to conduct thesis research on
traditional Tibetan music. In September of 1995, Ngawang disappeared. He
was held for over one year without being charged of any crime, but in
December of 1996 was sentenced to 18 years in prison for false charges of
espionage. Despite the fact that he was brought to the US on a
congressional scholarship, the US government has done nothing to secure
his freedom.
Phuntsog Yangkyi was
arrested in February 1992 for participating in a brief nonviolent protest
with five other young Tibetan nuns. The nuns, whose only crime was singing
independence songs, were beaten severely upon arrival at the police
station. Phuntsog was sentenced to five years in prison, but was released
as her health started to deteriorate from the torture she suffered. She
died shortly after her release.
Palden Gyatso was
arrested in 1959 for participating in a nonviolent demonstration in Lhasa,
Tibet. He spent the next thirty three years in Chinese prisons, and
suffered terrible tortures. While in prison, he documented the torture
that was routinely administered to Tibetan prisoners, including forced
labor, beatings with electric cattle prods, boiling water, and the brutal
rape of Tibetan nuns. In 1992, as the result of an Amnesty International
letter-writing campaign, Palden was released from prison. Palden managed
to smuggle Chinese torture implements out of his prison and. Since his
release, Palden has spoken from the mainstage at both Tibetan Freedom
Concerts, testified before the US Congress sub-committee on Human Rights,
been on several world-wide speaking tours and written a book "The
Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk" (Grove Press, 1997).