2006

Selected stories from 2006.
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13 December 2006 Free press for Olympics? Not for Tibet

China's pledge that foreign journalists will be free to report without restrictions during the 2008 Beijing Olympics have been exposed as nothing more than window dressing. In acknowledging that such freedoms to report will not be extended to reports from Tibet and Xinjiang, China has backtracked on previous undertakings that foreign journalists would be able to report freely from all parts of China.

28 September 2006 China announces tough media restrictions for 2008 Olympics

China has unveiled alarming new plans governing coverage of the 2008 Games to more than 300 journalists from 93 international news organisations earlier this week. At a first Olympics press briefing in Beijing, Liu Qi, mayor of Beijing and president of the organising Committee BOCOG, and Sun Weijia, Olympics Press Chief promised "good working conditions" for foreign journalists.

8 August 2006 Two-year countdown: Beijing Olympic "dream" conceals nightmare for Tibet

Today marks the two year countdown to the opening of the Beijing Olympics on August 8, 2008. China intends to use "the greatest show on earth" to showcase to the world a new, prosperous and confident China, intent on what its leaders have called a "peaceful rise" to unchallenged superpower status.

16 March 2006 Free Tibet Campaign overjoyed at arrival in United States of Phuntsog Nyidrol

Free Tibet Campaign activists have expressed their delight at China's decision to allow Tibetan nun Phuntsog Nyidrol who, until her release in February 2004, had been serving the second longest sentence (17 years) of any female political prisoner in Tibet, to travel overseas for medical treatment.

23 February 2006 Tibetan ex-political prisoners to visit UK in campaign to Stop the Torture in Tibet

Tibetan nuns, Gyaltsen Drolkar and Namdrol Lhamo, who each spent more than a decade in prison for chanting Tibetan freedom slogans, will visit the UK between 23 February and 11 March 2006, as part of a campaign to stop torture in Tibet. Their visit will culminate at the commemoration of the Tibetan uprising of March 1959 against China's occupation.

6 February 2006 Three Buddhist nuns and two monks sentenced following calls for no Beijing Olympic Games until Tibet issue is peacefully resolved

Recent information received by Tibet Watch (1) updates previous reports on the arrests of monks and nuns in Gansu Province. The new information confirms that three nuns from Gendun Tengye Ling Nunnery and two monks from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery in Labrang County were sentenced to various prison terms.

6 February 2006 Protests planned by Tibet groups during the Winter Olympic Games

The International Tibet movement will stage a series of protests, hunger strikes and awareness-raising activities during the Winter Olympics in Turin.

25 January 2006 Free Tibet Campaign deplores Google censorship of Tibet

Free Tibet Campaign deplores the announcement by Google that it is to capitulate to political pressure from China by providing a web-based search engine for the Chinese market which will prohibit access to information about Tibet and other sensitive political issues, such as the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. Google's rivals Yahoo! and Microsoft already censor their sites in accordance with Chinese government wishes.