PRESS RELEASE Contact: Elizabeth Cossor

July 28, 1997 Tenzing Choephel

"A MOTHER'S CRY UNHEARD"

Sonam Dekyi: Mother of Ngawang Choephel pleads to see her son in Tibet

After 15 months of detention without charge, Ngawang Choephel , a 30 year old Tibetan musician, was sentenced by the Intermediate People's Court of China in Shigatse (Ch: Xigatse) to an 18 year prison term and 4 years subsequent deprivation of political rights on December 26, 1996. The court charged him with being a "spy for the Tibetan Government-in-Exile" and for travelling to Tibet's major cities and towns to carry out "espionage activities".

Ngawang Choephel, a former Tibetan music teacher in India and a Fulbright scholar in ethnomusicology at Middlebury College in Vermont, USA, was first reported missing in August 1995, a month after he left to visit Tibet. His trip was aimed at conducting research into traditional Tibetan folk songs, music and culture in preparation for a documentary film.

Ngawang was next sighted on September 16, 1996, when exiled businessman Dorji Rinchen saw him in Nyari Detention Centre in Shigatse. Yet it was not until October 15, 1996, more than one year after his initial disappearance, that Chinese authorities finally admitted that Ngawang Choephel was being held in detention. Mr Shao Wenguang from the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C. stated in a letter to the US Congress that "Ngawang had been detained on charges of spying for the exile Government of the Dalai Lama and that he was thereby suspected of violating Article 4, Section 2(5), of the Chinese State Security Law." At no time did Chinese authorities provide any evidence in support of these allegations.

Ngawang Choephel's visit to Tibet in fact had no political motivation. In a letter addressed to his relatives in India, Ngawang wrote; "My main reason to go into Tibet is to research and collect as many folk songs as I could ... Anyhow I'm determined to do what I'm supposed to rather than any political activities and propaganda." In his project proposal to a sponsor, Ngawang stated that his goal was; "of creating a film that both examines the causes of the decay of Tibetan culture and documents and preserves the remaining oral and cultural traditions ... In order to prepare for footage in Tibet, an organizational solo trip will also be necessary."

Ngawang Choephel was just two years old when he was carried over the Himalayas to freedom on his mother's back. His mother, Mrs Sonam Dekyi, is now 60 years old and has devoted her whole life to the care and education of her only child. As a result of her son's imprisonment, Sonam Dekyi's health is deteriorating day by day and she is presently suffering from tuberculosis. She feels that she will not live long. Her last and only wish is to see her son before she dies.

Mrs Sonam Dekyi has sent a number of letters and has made several personal visits to the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, India, requesting that she be granted a visa to visit Tibet in order to see her son. To date there has been no response from the concerned authorities at the Embassy.

The incommunicado detention and sentence of Ngawang Choephel is a source of great concern both to Sonam Dekyi and to all Tibetans in-exile who travel to Tibet each year to see relatives or for pilgrimage. By denying Ngawang Choephel the right to have contact with his family, China is also acting in violation of international law. Article 37 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners declares: "Prisoners shall be allowed under necessary supervision to communicate with their family and reputable friends at regular intervals, both by correspondence and by receiving visits."

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy launched a signature campaign in May 1997 appealing to the Chinese authorities to allow Sonam Dekyi to visit Tibet to see her son. A total of 6439 signatures from 22 countries were collected and these were submitted to the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi this morning.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy and the Tibetan Women's Association appeal to the international community to join the campaign to make a mother's last wish a reality. We call on the Chinese authorities to grant Mrs Sonam Dekyi a visa to travel to Tibet and to abide by international standards in allowing her to visit her son in prison.

Released by: Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy

Tibetan Women's Association