Tibetan 'singing nun' flies into exile

Phuntsog Nyidron spent 15 years in jail for secretly recorded a cassette of songs praising the Dalai Lama and calling for an independent Tibet.

Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) – Chinese government yesterday granted a passport to Phuntsog Nyidron, the last of the "singing nuns of Drapchi", and put her on a plane for San Francisco, the US-based Dui Hua Foundation announced last night.

Phuntsog Nyidrol was arrested in October 1989 for participating 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.

Although she was released two years ago, her applications for a passport had been consistently denied. The Dui Hua Foundation said her departure was the result of hard work by "several governments and non-governmental organisations" and concerns raised by United Nations bodies such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.

The news, which comes a month ahead of a state visit by President Hu Jintao to the US, would be welcomed by Washington, foundation executive director John Kamm said last night.

But Mr Kamm added that Sino-US relations were now in a difficult period and sending one political prisoner into exile was unlikely to turn the tide.

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