Mother to camp in US to campaign for son’s release

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28: Tired of the Chinese adamancy, a mother of a Tibetan student - Ngawang Choephel who was clandestinely imprisoned by ...

CHANDIGARH, Sept 28: Tired of the Chinese adamancy, a mother of a Tibetan student – Ngawang Choephel who was clandestinely imprisoned by China about four years ago while travelling in Central Tibet – has decided to camp in the United States to campaign for the release of her son and her right to visit him in prison.

The mother, Sonam Dekyi (59), who is living in exile in India, has been vainly running from pillar to post for the past three years to urge the Chinese Embassy in Delhi to allow her to visit her son in prison in Tibet as per law. “I long to see my only son before I die. I will have to pursue the case individually at international level”, says ailing Dekyi as she plans to speak about events in the United States in different cities to mobilise public and official support for her campaign. The International Campaign for Tibet, based in the United States, is also arranging for Dekyi’s meetings with the American officials for a wider impact.

Ngawang Choephel – a Middleburry college student in America – had gone to Tibet to document traditional Tibetan music and dance. He disappeared after his entry into Tibet in 1994 within short period and it was not untill over a year later that China admitted to have detained him, in a letter to Senator Jefforts, who along with other Senators and Representatives, had appealed for his release. The Chinese letter said that Choephel had engaged himself in “separatist activities in Tibet.”

Story continues below this ad

Later, on December 26, 1996, China announced that it had sentenced Chophel to 18 years in prison for “espionage and separatism.” Currently, he is being held in Nyare detention centre near Shigatse. According to a former inmate, who saw Chowphel earlier this year, Choephel looked dazed and in poor health.

Reports at the Tibetan Government headquarters here say that Choephel had shot 18 hours of footage of traditional Tibetan dance and music. “There was nothing in it to suggest that he was doing anything other than ethnomusicology studies. A documentary film, “Missing in Tibet” was made with his footage Meanwhile, Sonam Dekyi’s visit to the USA for campaigning is being sponsored by the International Compaign for Tibet, the Free Tibet Campaign (UK) and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. She will carry out a similar campaign in Europe after visiting the US with the help of Tibetan organisations.