China Is Trying a Tibetan Filmmaker for Subversion (1/2)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/world/asia/31tibet.html?_r=2

CHONGQING, China — A self-taught filmmaker who spent five months interviewing Tibetans about their hopes and frustrations living under Chinese rule is facing charges of state subversion after the footage was smuggled abroad and distributed on the Internet and at film festivals around the world.
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Still from Leaving Fear Behind

In a documentary, a woman says meeting the Dalai Lama would mean more to her than 100 horses and 1,000 bulls.
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Dhondup Wangchen, who interviewed Tibetans for his film, Leaving Fear Behind, has been detained since March 2008.
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Tibetans offering prayer to the Dalai Lama in the film.

The filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, who has been detained since March 2008, just weeks after deadly rioting broke out in Tibet, managed to sneak a letter out of jail last month saying that his trial had begun.

There is no good news I can share with you, he wrote in the letter, which was provided by a cousin in Switzerland. It is unclear what the sentence will be.

As President Obama prepares for his first trip to China next month, rights advocates are clamoring for his attention in hopes that he will raise the plight of individuals like Mr. Wangchen or broach such thorny topics as free speech, democracy and greater religious freedom.

With hundreds of lawyers, dissidents and journalists serving time in Chinese prisons, human rights organizations are busy lobbying the White House, members of Congress and the news media. In some ways, the pressure has only intensified since Mr. Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize, raising expectations for him to carry the torch of human rights.
Mr. Wangchen seemed acutely aware that his project could get him in trouble. Just before he began filming, he sent his wife and their four children to India, where they live along with his elderly parents.

In an interview from Dharamsala, where she works as a baker, Mr. Wangchens wife, Lhamo Tso, said she feared she might not see him again for many, many years.

As a wife, Im very sad to be without the person I love so much, she said. But if I can separate out that sadness, I feel proud because he made a courageous decision to give a voice to people who dont have one.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/31/world/asia/31tibet.html?_r=1

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[FishEaster]

I hope her husband is still alive. If he is dead, let's pray for the repose of his soul.

[Ganeschar]

Brave woman !!!