New Delhi (14 Jan. 2010): Activists working for the Tibetan cause in Bangladesh are still being harassed and intimidated after Dhaka police, under pressure from Chinese officials, forcibly closed a Tibet photo exhibition in Dhaka in November last year. China’s imposition of its intolerant system and policies on Bangladesh is depriving the freedom of Bangladeshi citizens.
A member of the Bangladesh chapter of Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) who organized the Tibet photo exhibition says Chinese agents using their clout and pressure tactics in Bangladesh are making her life difficult. Wasfia Nasreen, SFT-Bangladesh’s leading activist had to go into virtual hiding due to constant harassment and threats. Nasreen fears for her safety citing a 1974 law in Bangladesh that could be used to prosecute her.
“There is a 1974 law in our country which has been manipulated in the past that says that if anyone is proved guilty to cause rift between friendly nations is subject to lifetime imprisonment,” she said in an e-mail dated 12 Jan.
It was reported extensively that on 1 Nov. 2009, police in riot gear cracked down on a Tibet photo exhibition being organized at Drik gallery in Dhaka forcing the organizers to shut it down. In defiance, organizers staged the exhibit on street. Drik managing director Dr Shahidul Alam said Bangladesh Police Special Branch spoke with him and asked him to stop the exhibition citing a “government order”. Police also demanded to know the names of the organizers and were said to be looking out for them.
Organizers also reported that two Chinese diplomats approached them to stop the exhibition. Alam also received a series of phone calls from the ministry of cultural affairs and from a number of Bangladeshi MPs.
Nasreen says it is unfortunate that her well-meaning support to the peaceful and non-violent movement of Tibetan people should meet such fate in her own country due to Chinese pressure. Nasreen hopes that Chinese interference in the internal affairs of Bangladesh will subside under the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina who last week made a successful visit to India where she was conferred with the prestigious Indira Gandhi Peace Award in New Delhi.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen sentenced to six years' imprisonment,
Dhondup Wangchen, the Tibetan filmmaker who is currently in Chinese detention, has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment by the provincial court in Xining (capital of Qinghai province). His arrest in March 2008 came shortly after completion of filming for his documentary film «Leaving Fear Behind» in which Tibetans spoke out about their lives in Tibet.
The sentencing took place on 28 December 2009 but his relatives in Xining were neither informed about the trial nor the verdict. According to reliable information, Dhondup Wangchen will appeal the sentence but the appeal period will expire on Thursday, 7 January 2010. Furthermore, Dhondup Wangchen has no access to independent legal assistance. The lawyer originally hired by his family was barred from representing him by the Chinese government.
His wife Lhamo Tso, who is together with her children on pilgrimage in Bodh Gaya/India, said today: "I appeal to the court in Xining to allow my husband to have a legal representative of his own choosing. My children and I feel desperate about the prospect of not being able to see him for so many years. We call on the Chinese authorities to show humanity by releasing him. My husband is not a criminal, he just tried to show the truth."
"The fact that my cousin Dhondup Wangchen has to enter the appeal process without legal assistance shows how humanrights are trampled upon by the Chinese government in Tibet," said Gyaljong Tsetrin, co-producer of Leaving Fear Behind, "I am also greatly concerned about Dhondup Wangchen’s health as he has contracted Hepatitis B through the poor conditions and torture he has endured in prison and is not receiving medical treatment. I ask myself how he will survive in prison for six years."
Dhondup Wangchen was born on 17 October 1974 in Bayen, Tsoshar area of Amdo in northeastern Tibet (Chin: Hualong, Haidong, Qinghai). He comes from a poor farming family without formal education. As a young man, he travelled to Lhasa and also to India. After his return to Tibet he was determined to document the true situation in his country and tell the outside world. Out of concern for his family, he escorted his wife and four children to India in 2006 before commencing filming the documentary.
Leaving Fear Behind has been screened in over 30 countries around the world.
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