Press Statement

October 4, 2010

TIBETANS CONDEMN NEPAL GOVERNMENT FOR CONFISCATING EXILE ELECTION BALLOTS

Police in Nepal yesterday confiscated boxes holding thousands of ballots cast by Tibetans participating in the preliminary round of international elections to nominate candidates to the office of Prime Minister and Parliament of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Nepali authorities were informed about the election in advance and raised no objections. The electoral process was running smoothly until armed police stormed polling stations in the Kathmandu Valley around 4pm local time and confiscated the ballot boxes. (Radio Free Asia footage of armed Nepali police seizing ballot boxes can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4fI58wpV6o).

We condemn this heinous act of repression by the Nepali authorities which tramples on the Tibetan people’s democratic right to freely elect their political leadership. Tibetans in Nepal have for decades participated, unimpeded, in the exile Tibetan democratic process and should be allowed to continue doing so. Under the leadership of the Dalai Lama, Tibetans have established a democratic system in exile that represents their commitment to upholding the democratic rights and freedoms denied to Tibetans living in Chinese-occupied Tibet. (more…)

SFT Launches its first Renaissance Series

Amplifying everything banned in Tibet

Photo by: David Hwang

A popular Tibetan poet from Tibet, Gade Tsering, began his poem titled “My Tibetanness” in response to exile poet Tenzin Tsundue’s poem using the same title. This could be the tone of what the exile Tibetans are now coming together, adding voices to the Tibetans inside Tibet in the form a “Renaissance Series” undertaken by Students For Free Tibet, India. (more…)

RARE FOOTAGE OF TIBETAN NOMAD’S PROTEST

Tibetans, supporters call for Runggye Adak’s release

Three years after his arrest, footage of Runggye Adak’s bold protest speech at the Lithang Horse Racing Festival has been publicly released. Adak is serving an 8-year prison sentence for simply denouncing China’s policies in Tibet and calling for the return of the Dalai Lama.

Read the joint press release marking the anniversary of his arrest.

TIBETANS, SUPPORTERS WORLDWIDE APPEAL FOR RELEASE OF AILING TIBETAN MONK JAILED BY CHINA

People signing petition at the Main square in Mcleod Ganj.

40,000 Signature Petition Delivered to Chinese Government in Support of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche

Dharamshala – Tibetans and their supporters joined a global day of action today for the release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a highly revered religious leader and community organizer from eastern Tibet who is currently serving a life sentence in Chinese prison. In cities around the world, demonstrators delivered a 40,000 signature petition to Chinese embassies and consulates denouncing China’s unjust imprisonment of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. In Dharamshala, more than ten thousand petition signatures were sent by fax and courier to Chinese authorities in Beijing and to the Chinese embassy in New Delhi. The petition text mirrored a similar petition signed by 40,000 Tibetans in Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s home region of Lithang in Kham, eastern Tibet (Chinese: Sichuan Province ). Members of Tenzin Delek’s family attempted to deliver the petition to the Chinese government in December 2009 but were stopped en route to Beijing.

“Like all Tibetan prisoners of conscience, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche did not receive a fair trial under Chinese law. Now is the time for his case to be re-opened and a new trial to be granted in accordance with international legal standards, especially given his deteriorating health condition,” said Ngawang Woebar, President of Gu Chu Sum Movement of Tibet and a former political prisoner. “We sent 40,000 signatures from around the world to the Chinese government today to press for the release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who has served nine years of an unjust prison sentence. We are also standing in solidarity with Tibetans in Tibet who have risked their lives to appeal for Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s freedom, and call on the international community to join our appeal for this innocent Tibetan monk.” (more…)