Tibetan Scholar Enters Exile in U.S.

Tibetan Scholar Enters Exile in U.S.
source: By Ted Anthony Associated Press Writer
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-china-tibetan-released0714jul14.story?coll=sns%2Dap%2Dnationworld%2Dheadlines

BEIJING -- Frail but overjoyed, an ailing Tibetan teacher believed to be China's longest-held political prisoner was released nine years early and flew to exile in the United States -- a move that the activist who helped win his freedom attributed to politics.

It was the sixth early release of a Tibetan political prisoner since January, a monitoring group said.

Tanak Jigme Sangpo, 74, arrived in Chicago from Beijing on Saturday afternoon in "pretty good health" despite serious high blood pressure and coronary disease, said John Kamm, president of the San Francisco-based Duihua Foundation.

"I'm not at all convinced that the policy toward Tibet is changing. But I think they want to further relations with the United States and see this as a way of doing it," Kamm said in a telephone interview on Sunday morning.

"They look at the options available to them for that purpose, and they land on the release of long-serving Tibetan prisoners," he said.

It was the sixth release of a Tibetan political prisoner since January, a monitoring group said.

Calls to China's Foreign Ministry weren't answered Sunday.

By all accounts China's longest-serving political prisoner, Jigme Sangpo, a primary-school teacher, was first sentenced to three years of "re-education through labor" in 1965, according to the London-based Tibet Information Network, a monitoring group. It cited "reliable reports" as indicating that he also served a 10-year sentence from 1970-1980 for political activities.

Jigme Sangpo was arrested again in September 1983 and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of "counterrevolutionary incitement and propaganda" for campaigning against Chinese rule in Tibet, according to Kamm.

His sentence was extended twice after that and had been due to expire on Sept. 3, 2011, when he would be in his mid-80s. Prison authorities exempted him from physical labor several years ago because of his age, Kamm said.

In April, Jigme Sangpo was released from Lhasa's Drapchi Prison into the custody of his niece in Lhasa, a move initially believed to be a release. But Kamm said he was kept under house arrest at his niece's residence, and that the block where she lived was heavily guarded during his time there.

Jigme Sangpo was also one of five prisoners cited by U.S. Ambassador Clark T. Randt during a Jan. 21 speech in Hong Kong.

The United States welcomed the news of his release.

"We are pleased China has taken this step," State Department spokeswoman Brenda Greenberg said in Washington. She said the release came after "the active involvement of several administrations."

The Tibet Information Network said Jigme Sangpo was the sixth Tibetan prisoner released by the government since January, including four "singing nuns," a group of women punished for recording pro-independence songs in prison. The most recent, Ngawang Choezom, was freed June 21.

"It seems the Chinese authorities are reassessing the necessity of continuing to hold people in prisons for long periods if they've been involved in peaceful forms of protest," said Kate Saunders, a spokeswoman for the Tibet Information Network.

Kamm met with Jigme Sangpo in Lhasa last month and said that in addition to coronary problems and high blood pressure, which can be particularly lethal at higher altitudes, Jigme Sangpo also complained that his hands and feet were shaking.

He said Jigme Sangpo was en route to Washington, where he will live with a relative and begin medical treatment. The Tibetan's plane ride to the United States was "very emotional," Kamm said.

"I think he's overwhelmed with the realization that so many people around the world for so many years have worked on his behalf," Kamm said.

Kamm said figures given to him by the Chinese government say there are 110 prisoners in Tibet serving sentences on charges of "endangering state security."