Petition for the release of Lobsang Tenzin, Tibet's longest -serving political prisoner

Please sign the petition to the Tibet Autonomous Region's Party Secretary, Chen Quanguo, and to Chushur Prison's Governor, calling for Lobsang Tenzin to receive immediate medical attention and to be released.

The health of Lobsang Tenzin, Tibet's longest-serving political prisoner, has deteriorated to a point where his life is believed to be in danger. Lobsang Tenzin has been in prison for 23 years. There have been periodic reports about the deterioration in his health is due to torture, poor prison conditions and a lack of medical access.

Lobsang Tenzin was a student at Tibet University at the time of his arrest during protests in March 1988. He was charged, along with five other Tibetans, in connection with the death of a policeman, but the trials were not conducted with the appropriate legal safeguards so the truth of the charges is unknown. Initially sentenced to death, Lobsang Tenzin's sentence was then commuted to life imprisonment following international pressure. He is currently being held in Chushur (Ch: Qushui) Prison in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Lobsang has remained politically active in prison, organising protests at his former place of detention, Drapchi Prison, in 1990. When a young Tibetan student and fellow prisoner, Lhakpa Tsering died following torture in prison, Lobsang tore his bedsheet in half and wrote on them: “We mourn the death of Lhakpa Tsering”. He organised a group of 150 prisoners to carry banners and march through the prison courtyard demanding answers about the death of Lhakpa Tsering.

In 1991, he attempted to pass a letter listing the names of prisoners who had been tortured in prison to the visiting United States Ambassador, but the letter was confiscated by the ambassador’s Chinese interpreter. Lobsang Tenzin has become a hero amongst prisoners for his brave and courageous efforts to fight. He is currently scheduled for release in 2013.

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