|
 Dhondup Wangchen was jailed for six years in late 2009 in the
western province of Qinghai after he made a documentary in which
ordinary Tibetans praised the Dalai Lama and complained about
how their culture had been trampled upon.
The film, "Leaving Fear Behind", features a series of interviews
with Tibetans who talk about how they still love their exiled
spiritual leader and thought the 2008 Beijing Olympics would do
little to improve their lives.
The film was shown in secret to a small group of foreign
reporters in Beijing during the Olympics.
In a statement late on Wednesday in Beijing, the group Filming
for Tibet said Dhondup Wangchen had arrived in San Francisco
that day.
"After many years, this is the first time I'm enjoying the
feeling of safety and freedom," the group quoted him as saying.
"I would like to thank everyone who made it possible for me to
hold my wife and children in my arms again. However, I also feel
the pain of having left behind my country, Tibet."
Dhondup Wangchen had been released from prison in June 2014 in
the Qinghai provincial capital of Xining but remained under
tight surveillance with his movements and communications
monitored, the group said.
"Dhondup Wangchen was able to successfully evade the authorities
and flee from his home area in Tibet and then the People's
Republic of China altogether," it added, without giving details.
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Asked about the case, China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua
Chunying told a regular briefing that she was not aware of it. The
Xining police declined to comment and the Qinghai provincial
government did not answer telephone calls.
Qinghai, which borders the Tibet Autonomous Region, is home to a
large ethnic Tibetan population and is considered by many Tibetans
as part of greater Tibet. It is also the birthplace of exiled
Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Chinese forces entered Buddhist Tibet in 1950 in what the government
terms a peaceful liberation, and says its rule has brought
prosperity and freedom to what was a backward and feudal society,
including freeing a million people from serfdom,
China routinely rejects accusations from exiles and rights groups of
repression and human rights abuses in the region.
There have been sporadic protests against Chinese rule in Tibetan
parts of China for the past few years, most seriously in 2008 ahead
of the Beijing Olympics.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Christian
Shepherd; Editing by Michael Perry, Robert Birsel)
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