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

of Choephel’s plight.

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.