For more recent activities of SFT, including victories, check out the SFT blog. Much of our recent focus has been on the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, visit FreeTibet2008.org for more information on that campaign!
Some of SFT’s campaign victories are summarized below. They are the result of the efforts of thousands of dedicated people around the world. Thank you to everyone who organized, wrote letters, raised a ruckus, donated money, or otherwise helped bring about these victories.
Contact us at campaigns@sftindia.org for campaign-related information and materials.
Freedom Fighter Nun Ngawang Sangdrol Freed
Ngawang Sangdrol, one of the Drapchi 14 nuns, was first arrested at age 13 for a pro-independence demonstration. Arrested again at age 15, her sentence was extended repeatedly for continued protest in prison, which included recording a tape of freedom songs with the other Drapchi 14 nuns that was smuggled throughout Tibet. After intense pressure from people and governments around the world, she was released in October, 2002, 9 years before the end of her 21-year sentence. In April, 2003 she was released to the United States for medical treatment. She is now living in Washington, DC. [message from Sangrol]
Music to Our Ears: Ngawang Choephel Released
Freeing Ngawang Choephel was one of SFT’s first campaigns. For six years, students campaigned for a fellow student to be released from prison, and in January 2002, he finally was. Ngawang Choephel was studying ethnomusicology on a Fulbright scholarship at Middlebury College in Vermont when he decided to go to Tibet to document traditional Tibetan song and dance. He was arrested by the Chinese government in September 1995 and later charged with espionage and counter-revolutionary activities. In December 1996 Ngawang was sentenced to 18 years in prison. On January 20, 2002, Nwagang Choephel was released and flown to the United States, twelve years before the end of his sentence. [press release] [message from Ngawang]
Under Pressure from SFT, PBR Pulls Down Billboard in Tibet
October 2001 - After intense pressure from SFT members, Pabst Blue Ribbon, the fourth largest brewing company in the United States, pulled down a billboard in Lhasa, Tibet that celebrated the “50th Anniversary of the Peaceful Liberation of Tibet.” Pabst Brewing Company asked their Chinese licensee to remove the billboard after receiving over 1,500 faxes about the billboard over the course of less than a week. [more]
