China Jails Tibetan Filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen for 6 Years

Source: Tibet.net (official site of TGiE)

Dharamshala: Dhondup Wangchen, the Tibetan filmmaker who was arrested by the Chinese government for documenting the current situation in Tibet and Tibetan people’s aspiration for return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, has been sentenced to six years in prison, according to information received by the Central Tibetan Administration.

The sentence was pronounced was on 28 December 2009, according to the report. But it is not known where the filmmaker was tried.

Dhondup Wangchen, aged 35, was arrested with his monk assistant named Jigme Gyatso on 26 March 2008 for making the film “Leaving Fear Behind” in Tibet, which documents the lives of Tibetans under China’s rule, views about His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Beijing Olympics. (more…)

The Tibetan Government-in-Exile released rare footage this morning of Chinese forces brutally beating Tibetans in Lhasa following the unprecedented protests that took place in March 2008. The graphic footage also shows the fatal wounds inflicted by Chinese authorities on a young Tibetan man, Tendar, who was detained after attempting to stop Chinese police from beating a monk in Lhasa on March 14.

The graphic video footage is available at: Tibet.Net

“This extremely rare and shocking footage confirms our worst fears about the horrific pain and suffering Tibetans are experiencing at the hands of the Chinese authorities in the wake of last year’s uprising,” said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet. “The brutality of the Chinese authorities towards Tibetans in this footage is not the exception to, but rather the rule of, Beijing’s treatment of the Tibetan people over the past 50 years.” (more…)

EXILE NGOs CALL ON INDIAN GOVERNMENT TO TAKE STRONGER STAND ON TIBET

Dharamshala – Tibetans and supporters in the hill town of Dharamsala are marking the 50th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising by holding mass rallies, demonstrations and vigils. Similar activities are taking place in hundreds of other cities around the world, from Delhi to New York, Sidney to Vancouver, Kathmandu to Taipei. This year’s anniversary is particularly significant because it marks a half century since the Dalai Lama was forced to flee into exile, and exactly one year since last year’s nationwide Tibetan uprising and the subsequent crackdown by Chinese authorities.

“We are here to speak out for the Tibetan people in Tibet, who for more than half a century have lived under the iron fist of Chinese rule,” said Chime Youngdung of the National Democratic Party of Tibet. “That the occupation of Tibet has unresolved for so long is one of the great disgraces of the modern world.” (more…)