UCS 29/10/04: Save Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche |
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(Please contact Free Tibet Campaign if acting after 26 January 2005) Please take action (see below) and encourage as many of your friends and family to write/fax/email the Chinese Embassy in London to demonstrate the strength of opposition to the execution and raise the pressure on the Chinese Government. Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche was accused of taking part in 'causing explosions' and 'splittist activities' and was sentenced on 2 December 2002 to a two year suspended death sentence, which was subsequently confirmed at an appeal on 26 January 2003. The only evidence ever forthcoming was a confession, later retracted amidst claims of torture, from his co-accused, Lobsang Dhondup. Dhondup, tragically, was executed immediately following the appeal on 26 January 2003. Although China confirmed to the EU in February 2004 that the expiry of Rinpoche's suspended death sentence was 2 December, some China watchers believe that the actual date may be 26 January 2005, the date of his failed appeal. If China decides to commute his suspended death sentence to life imprisonment, it will be an effective death sentence given the prevalence of torture and terrible conditions in Tibet's prisons. Rinpoche rose to local prominence in Kham Province (Sichuan) as a result of his religious, humanitarianand environmental work. A peaceful activist, he helped set up schools and hospitals and worked tirelessly to promote Buddhism and the Dalai Lama. Such selfless work brought him significant local standing which the Chinese authorities sought to undermine with two decades of harassment. Using the smokescreen of the ''global war on terror'' the Chinese authorities arrested Rinpoche in April 2002. Since then his case has been taken up by the UK Government via the UK-China bi-annual human rights dialogue, the US Government and the EU, as well as organisations such as Free Tibet Campaign, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights in China. As a result of international campaigning, five men who were serving sentences in relation to their support of Rinpoche were released early from prison sentences. Take Action Write/fax/email the Chinese Ambassador in London calling for Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche NOT to be executed or for him to be condemned to a lifetime in prison for a crime he did not commit. Chinese Ambassador in the UK Please send copies of any responses you receive to Free Tibet Campaign, as this helps us to monitor the situation. Vigil for Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche in London Free Public Talks by Lobsang Tenpa (fellow monk of Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche) If you would like to make a donation towards the Urgent Campaign Scheme please go towww.freetibet.org/membership/join.html and click on Online Secure Payment. Under the Donation section please selectUrgent Campaign Scheme. Alternative payment methods are explained on the same page. Thank you. Free Tibet Campaign also has an Action Email List, which sends out details of upcoming Free Tibet Campaign activities as well as a monthly Tibet-related events diary (UK events only). To subscribe to this list please send a message to paul@freetibet.org with SUBSCRIBE ACTION LIST in the subject or body of message. Please include your name and postal address
It is now less than a week before China could execute the widely respected Tibetan Buddhist religious leader, Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche. Free Tibet Campaign needs your help to ensure that the Chinese Embassy in London is left in no doubt that world opinion is against an execution.
Name: Mr Zha Peixin
Address: 49-51 Portland Place
London W1N 3AH
Email: press@chinese-embassy.org.uk
Fax: +44 (0)20 7636 2981 or (0)20 7636 5578
Salutation: Your Excellency
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