Tibetan nun released from jail

Hong Kong (AsiaNews) Phuntsog Nyidrol, a 37 year-old Tibetan nun, was released from Drapchi prison yesterday and is reportedly with her family in Lhasa.

Phuntsog Nyidrol was arrested in October 1989 for participaing in peaceful demonstrations in Lhasa, and was sentenced to nine years imprisonment. Her sentence was extended to 17 years when she, along with 13 other nuns, secretly recorded a cassette of songs praising the Dalai Lama and calling for an independent Tibet.. The cassette was smuggled out of prison and subsequently out of Tibet. After showing "signs of repentence in recent years" the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court reduced her sentence by one year in April 2001. She was due to be released in 2005.

Her early release was made possible thanks to the interest of American businessman John Kamm, and to the pressures exerted by the House of Representatives on the Chinese government to release all Tibetan political prisoners. The release of Phuntsog Nyidrol coincides with the publication of the US Department of States Country reports on Human Rights 2003 for China.

There have been serious concers about Phuntsog's health after she was reported to have been severely beaten during protests at the Drapchi prison in 1998.

Although released from prison, Phuntsog can still expect restrictions and controls from the Chinese authorities.

The following is one of the songs which brought about the condemnation of Phuntsog Nyidrol:

Land of snows

Land of snows, land of snows,

My beloved country

The fount of happiness is political and religious freedom,

The Red Chinese have separated us from my root guru

The Buddhas who dwell in the ten directions

Witness the suffering of Tibetan people

We must endure brutality

Which fills our land with tears and blood

The Buddhas who live in the ten directions