Dear (name of Congressman/woman or Senator)


I am writing to you to urge you to intervene with the Chinese Embassy in
Washington in the cases of three Tibetans whose whereabouts, welfare and
legal status are unknown and who are at risk of execution.


The three Tibetans are: Penkyi, a Tibetan woman aged 21 from Sakya
county; Tenzin Phuntsog and Kangtsuk. They were all given suspended
death sentences after being found guilty by a court in Lhasa in April of
arson attacks on buildings in Lhasa in March 2008 that led to the
confirmed deaths of Chinese citizens. In closely related cases two other
Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak, were also sentenced to death with
no reprieve. Serious concerns have been raised that the evidence
presented in these cases was unsound and that the convictions are
consequently unsafe.


No independent observers or journalists were present at the trials in
April and very little information on the cases has been made available
by the Chinese authorities. But a report on the sentencing issued by the
official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, quoted a court spokesperson
stating that Tenzin Phuntsog had been convicted on the basis of a
confession. This immediately gives cause for concern that the evidence
used against all the Tibetans sentenced to death was unsound: as
recently as November 2008 the UN Committee Against Torture stated its
deep concern that in China and Tibet there is "routine and widespread
use of torture... especially to extract confessions or information to be
used in criminal proceedings" and "Continued reliance on confessions as
a common form of evidence for prosecution..."


In October sources inside Tibet reported that Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak
had been executed. The executions were not reported in the official
Chinese press and were not conducted in public. They were only confirmed
by the Chinese authorities (through the Chinese Embassy in London and at
a press briefing in Beijing) after Free Tibet and other advocacy groups
focused accountability on the Chinese authorities by reporting the
executions to the international media, ensuring coverage. The same
sources have persisted in reporting that Penkyi from Sakya county was
also executed, although the Chinese authorities have only confirmed the
executions of Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak.

In view of the lack of transparency surrounding the original sentencing
in April, together with the secrecy with which the two executions in
October were carried out, serious concerns must remain regarding the
welfare of the three Tibetans who were given suspended death sentences.
I am therefore urging you to:

* Write to the Chinese Ambassador to Washington, Mr Zhou
Wenzhoung, requesting that he clarifies whether Penkyi from Sakya
county, Tenzin Phuntsog and Kangtsuk have been executed. Please request
in your letter clarification on their legal status, whereabouts and
welfare if they have not been executed.


* Write to Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, requesting that
she contacts her Chinese counterpart in Beijing to seek similar
clarification as above.


Thank you for your time and consideration.


Yours sincerely,



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