| ashu |
Posted
on 25-Jan-02 12:42 AM
Hi all,
A few months ago, here, I had posted info about Tibetan ethnomusicologist
Ngawang Choephel imprisonment in China.
This is an update.
A special kudos to Ruthie Ristich of Cambridge, Mass. and other activist friends
in Boston for doing their bit to help free Mr.Choephel.
oohi
ashu
ktm,nepal
**************************************************
January 21, 2002
China Gives Tibetan Scholar an Early Release From Prison
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIJING, Jan. 20 (AP) — One month before a
scheduled visit by President Bush, China freed a music
scholar today, a Tibetan who was serving an 18-year prison
term on spying charges, a human rights advocate said.
The scholar, Ngawang Choephel, 34, was released on medical
parole and put aboard a Northwest Airlines flight to
Detroit, accompanied by an official of the United States
Embassy in Beijing, said John Kamm, head of the San
Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, a human rights group
focused on China.
There was no immediate confirmation from the United States
or Chinese governments. Mr. Kamm said Chinese officials
agreed to let him announce the release.
Mr. Choephel is a former Fulbright scholar who taught at
Middlebury College in Vermont. He disappeared in 1995 after
returning to Tibet to videotape traditional music and dance.
China announced more than a year later that he had been
sentenced to 18 years in prison on spying charges.
Mr. Choephel's release appears to be aimed at improving
relations with Washington in the midst of the antiterrorism
campaign, Mr. Kamm said. "The Chinese have been looking for
areas where they can improve relations," Mr. Kamm said.
"Prisoner releases is one area where they can do something."
Also, he said, Chinese officials told him that Mr. Choephel
was a "beneficiary of more letters from members of Congress
than anyone else."
Mr. Choephel was released under a previously unannounced
1990 Chinese regulation allowing medical parole to prisoners
who have served at least one-third of their sentences and
have contracted illnesses in prison, Mr. Kamm said. Mr.
Choephel had served six and a half years.
While behind bars, he developed bronchitis, a pulmonary
infection and hepatitis, Mr. Kamm said. He was hospitalized
for two months.
Mr. Kamm said Mr. Choephel planned to receive medical
treatment in the United States, and then go to India, where
his mother and other family members live in exile.
Several jailed dissidents are said to be suffering from
chronic illnesses worsened by the primitive conditions of
Chinese prisons. Most prominent among them are two founders
of the banned China Democracy Party.
THE END
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