Wife of Imprisoned Tibetan Filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen, Supported by Actor Peter Coyote, Demands Safe Return for her Husband
PRESS RELEASE (International Version)
Photo Download:
1. Lhamo Tso showing picture of her children
2. Lhamo Tso and Peter Coyote in front of the Chinese Consulate
Contact:
Mrs. Lhamo Tso, 510-681-3244 (ONLY TIBETAN)
Mr. Peter Coyote, c/o Elizabeth Ross, Assistant to Peter Coyote, 415-385-9908
Ms. Tenzin Tselha, Students for a Free Tibet, 510-289-5691
Mr. Giovanni Vassallo, Bay Area Friends of Tibet, 415-264-3264
(San Francisco) 9 October 2013 – Lhamo Tso, wife of filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen, accompanied by actor Mr. Peter Coyote, will go to the Consulate of the People’s Republic of China in San Francisco today to handover letters and pictures for her husband who is in a prison in China and whose birthday is on October 17.
Mr. Coyote said that he was told about the case of Dhondup recently and decided to accompany and support Lhamo Tso in her struggle to reunite her family: “It is hard to imagine a great country like China, threatened by a documentary film maker. Keeping him imprisoned can only make the world suspect that he must have been telling inconvenient truths. Even if that were the case, are we to believe that China would so publicly disdain the human right of free expression by keeping Dhondup Wangchen behind bars for a movie?”
Lhamo Tso said: «The reason for my growing worry is an observation that is shared by many people: In the past few months a wave of releases of Tibetan writers and activists has taken place. The health conditions of all the released men were deplorable. I urge all people to help me to bring the father of my children back.”
Lhamo Tso, who has been invited by various groups from all over the world to speak about her husband, now lives in San Francisco. Her four children are in India, in an exile-Tibetan orphanage and are expected to join her as soon as possible. The Bay Area Friends of Tibet helped Lhamo Tso to settle in San Francisco
Dhondup Wangchen’s case is known internationally. He was awarded by different groups for his courageous documentary. The self-taught camera man and film maker travelled across Tibet with his assistant Golog Jigme in 2007/2008. His film “Leaving Fear Behind” (28 min.) was translated in a dozen languages and screened in more than 30 countries worldwide.
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Letter of Lhamo Tso to Consul Yuan Nansheng
Letters of the children to their father Dhondup Wangchen
Letter I of Lhamo Tso to her husband (Tibetan)
Letter II of Lhamo Tso to her husband (English, Tibetan, Chinese) send earlier in 2013
Background on releases of political prisoners.