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Duran Duran Supports Calls for Nyidon’s Release
Phuntsok Nyidon |
Dharamsala, 20 October 2003: According to the website of Amnesty International (USA) pop group Duran Duran's "78-03" USA tour this autumn will circulate a petition demanding the release of Phuntsok Nyidon, a Tibetan nun currently incarcerated at Drapchi Prison, Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
Phuntsok was in her twenties when she was arrested in 1989 for participating in a peaceful demonstration against the Chinese rule in Tibet. Today, she is Tibet’s longest serving female political prisoner with 17 years sentence. Along with Ngawang Sangdrol, Phuntsok Nyidon was one of the 14 Drapchi Prison Nuns (also known as singing nuns) who made a secret tape from inside the prison expressing devotion to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and describing prison conditions.
Phuntsok Nyidon, who won the prestigious Reebok Human Rights Award in 1995, is considered by Amnesty International a prisoner of conscience imprisoned solely for the peaceful exercise of her right to freedom of conscience and expression.
Recent reports indicate that she is in poor health and may suffer a kidney failure. Last month, San Francisco-based lobbyists, John Kamm of the Dui Huan Foundation said after meetings with senior Chinese officials that Phuntsok Nyidon may be one of the prisoners to be released at the end of 2003.
A 20 September report by AFP quoted Kamm as saying that he was not predicting Nyidon’s release but noted that she had "one and half years left to run on her sentence and already received a one year reduction on her sentence last year for good behavior. This would suggest that she could be a candidate for early release."
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