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Amnesty International China Campaign Information

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People's Republic

of China

Focus: Jigme Sangpo

prisoner of conscience

Thousands of Tibetan pro-independence activists have been arbitrarily

detained and many have been tortured. They are in jail for peaceful acts

such as displaying the Tibetan flag, distributing or possessing tape

cassettes, posters or leaflets, expressing opposition to Chinese rule in

private conversa-tions or in public, writing or singing about Tibetan

independence, etc.

Jigme Sangpo, a former primary school teacher now in his sixties, is serving

one of the longest sentences imposed on a prisoner of conscience in Tibet.

By the time he is due to be released, in 2011, Jigme Sangpo will have spent

28 years in prison. In 1983, age 57, he was arrested for composing a

national-ist lyric entitled, "Tibetan People's Struggle" which he copied

onto posters and mounted around Lhasa. He was sentenced to 15 years in

prison for "counter-revolutionary propaganda and incitement". In 1988 he

received an additional five-year term for shouting pro-independence slogans

in jail. In December 191 he was reported to have been beaten for shouting

slogans during a visit to Drapchi prison by the Swiss ambassador to China

and to have been subsequently held in solitary confinement for at least 6

weeks. His sentence was again increased, this time by a further eight years.

He remains in Drapchi prison. Jigme Sangpo had spent at least 13 years in

prison for similar offenses before 1980.

Take action to free him and to end human rights violations in Tibet. Write

to the authorities listed below seeking his immediate and unconditional release.

Gyaltsen Norbu Zhuxi

President of the Xizang Autonomous

Regional People's Government

Xizang Zizhuqu Renmin Zhengfu

1 Kang'angdonglu

Lasashi 850000

Xizang Zizhiqu

People's Republic of China

Salutation: Dear President

Send a copy of your letter to:

His Excellency Li Daoyu

Embassy of the People's

Republic of China

2300 Connecticut Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20008

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