October 13, 1998
Mother of Imprisoned Tibetan Fulbright
Scholar Ngawang Choephel to Speak at Middlebury College During
Anniversary Observance on Oct. 22
Sonam Deyki Travels to U.S. from
Exiled Home in India to Join Congressman Bernard Sanders and Other
Speakers for the Event—Screening of Documentary “Missing
in Tibet” to Include Video Footage by Choephel
On Oct. 22, an anniversary observance
of the imprisonment of former Fulbright Scholar Ngawang Choephel
will take place on the Middlebury College campus. Events, which
will begin at 4:30 p.m. and continue throughout the evening, are
free and open to the public.
At 4:30 p.m. in Warner Hemicycle on
College Street (Route 125) a screening of the documentary film
“Missing in Tibet” will be followed by a short prayer
and meditation for Choephel led by Andrea Olsen. Professor of
dance at Middlebury College, Olsen was Choephel’s colleague and
friend at Middlebury, where he studied ethnomusicology in 1993
and 1994.
In 1995 Choephel returned to his native
Tibet to videotape a documentary film related to his studies.
While taping, he was apprehended and detained by Chinese authorities,
but not before 18 hours of footage was successfully delivered
out of the country. Much of the footage has now been incorporated
into the film “Missing in Tibet.”
Choephel was subsequently convicted
as a spy against the Chinese government. Reported as “dazed
and in poor health,” he is currently serving an 18-year sentence
resulting from his attempt to produce scholarly documentation
of traditional music and dance in Chinese-ruled Tibet.
Starting at 7 p.m. in Mead Chapel on
Hepburn Road off College Street (Route 125), Vermont Congressman
Bernard Sanders will join Choephel’s mother, Sonam Deyki, and
several other special guests, including representatives from Vermont
Senator James Jeffords’ office and the Washington, D.C.-based
International Campaign for Tibet (ICT). Ms. Deyki will be the
keynote speaker and other participants will address various aspects
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Ms. Deyki, a Tibetan refuge now living
in India, comes to Middlebury as part of a speaking tour that
includes Amherst, Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. After
the U.S. tour, Deyki will travel throughout Europe to continue
to seek support that might influence Chinese officials to grant
her permission to visit Choephel in prison, and to gain his release.
Since first contacting the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi in December
of 1996, she has, to date, not been allowed to make the visit.
“I long to see my only son before I die,” she said.
Jon Barlow, head of the Committee for
Ngawang Choephel at the ICT, will also participate in the speaker
session. Barlow was a fellow student and friend of Choephel while
both men studied at Middlebury College. After Choephel’s disappearance,
Barlow founded Students for a Free Tibet at Middlebury, and coordinated
a major letter-writing campaign on behalf of the Middlebury community.
The campaign helped to bring Choephel’s case to the attention
of government officials both in Vermont and Washington, D.C.
Congressman Sanders and a representative
from Senator Jeffords’ office will also participate in the evening
session, offering comments and a question-and-answer period pertaining
to government action for the release of Choephel. Both Jeffords
and Sanders have worked to bring attention to Choephel’s case
at an international level and have raised concerns over protection
of human rights in China.
All are invited to attend. For more
information contact Middlebury College Students for a Free Tibet
President Sasha Duerr by phone at (802) 443-6411, or e-mail at
duerr@middlebury.edu.