Published by: World Tibet Network News, Wednesday, Jun 19, 1996

Bay Area Friends of Tibet 2288 Fulton

Street, Suite 312

Berkeley, CA 94704

Objective:

To promote public awareness of the incommunicado detention of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama of Tibet, and to increase the pressure on the government of the People's Republic of China to release him.

Background:

The seven year old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was selected in 1995 by a committee originally appointed by the government of the People's Republic of China, and confirmed by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama to be the new Panchen Lama of Tibet. In a colonialist intervention, however, the government of the PRC rejected this choice and forced the selection of another candidate of their own liking. Since then, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, together with his parents, the head of the selection committee and fifty monks, have been detained incommunicado. This makes him the youngest political prisoner in the world today. Press coverage of this fact and its history has been appallingly sparse. However, it is of critical importance that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and all others be released as soon as possible, since torture, other physical and mental abuse in Chinese prisons have been well documented and are systematically applied.

Action:

Contributions to this fund will be exclusively used to buy paid advertisements in newspapers, at first in the Bay Area, and then, if financial resources permit, in West Coast and national publications. Contributors of $100 or more will be listed at the end of the next published advertisement; contributors of $1000 or more will be listed on all advertisements.

The Gedhun Choekyi Nyima-Fund is administered by the Bay Area Friends of Tibet, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization promoting Tibetan culture and advocating protection of human rights and the environment in Tibet.

For more information, please call (510) 548-1271, or send a fax to (510) 548-3785.