FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Pema Dolkar, Tibetan Youth Association in Europe:
+30 69 83 00 76 78
Lhadon Tethong, Students for a Free Tibet:
+30 698 232 7958/+1 917-418-4181
Athens
– Eight Pro-Tibet activists were arrested today following a second day
of protest, outside the Athens hotel where the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) has been meeting. Included in the arrest were the four
young Tibetan women from the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe who
staged a 'die-in' yesterday outside the hotel. The dramatic action
symbolized the death of Tibetans, which Tibet campaigners fear is
likely if China is allowed to parade the Olympic torch through Tibetan
areas. An additional four activists were also arrested after the group
unfurled Tibetan flags and banners reading "IOC: No Torch In Tibet!"
and "Open Tibet To Media!."
The five Swiss Tibetans arrested, all with the Tibetan Youth
Association in Europe, are Nyima Jangdroen, 25, Jamyang Dolma, 26,
Tenzing Kelsang, 28, and Norzin Dolkar, 30, and Tenzin Yeshi, 24. Two
Americans, Han Shan, 35, and Kate Nikeefe, 39, were also arrested along
with Tibetan Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, 32. The eight were arrested by
Greek police and taken to a nearby police station where they were held
for several hours before being released. No charges were filed against
them. Tibetans and supporters are in Athens this week to demand the IOC
cancel the Tibet leg of the torch relay and pressure China to uphold
its Olympic commitment to media freedom and allow immediate media
access to Tibet.
"An internal memo shows that even the IOC recognizes the likelihood
of bloodshed if the torch goes through Tibet," said Tenzin Yeshi,
spokeswoman for the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe. "IOC leaders
must do the right thing now and cancel the torch relay through Tibet."
In addition to calling for cancellation of the torch relay through
Tibet, the activists called for the IOC to press China to uphold its
pledge of media freedom made during its bid for the 2008 Games. Tibet
groups are joined by other NGOs including Amnesty International,
Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists in
calling for immediate media access to Tibetan areas, which remain
closed to reporters.
"In the unfortunate case that the IOC irresponsibly allows China to
parade the Olympic torch through Tibetan areas under clampdown, the IOC
must take immediate measures to ensure that international media be
allowed access to Tibet before the torch enters," said Lhadon Tethong,
Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet and one of those
arrested. "That means now."
Yesterday morning, Ms. Tethong tried to meet Olympic Chief Jacques
Rogge inside the hotel where the Executive Board meeting is taking
place. Upon approaching Rogge and asking to speak with him as he
entered the meeting, he refused before security intervened. Tibetans
and supporters have repeatedly requested a meeting with Rogge and the
IOC.
China's Governor in Tibet has promised that Tibetans will be
"treated harshly and with no leniency" for protesting during the torch
relay. Tibetan exiles and campaigners have heard from sources inside
Tibet that Tibetans are opposed to China taking the torch through their
lands and are determined to protest. A leaked internal IOC memo
acknowledges the likelihood of unrest and suggests IOC staff and
leadership express "deepest sympathies or condolences to anyone that
was injured or killed, and their families." The IOC has ultimate
authority over the Olympic torch relay route.
"Why have IOC leaders prepared a public relations strategy to
respond to a tragedy that is still in their power to prevent?" asked
Norzin Dolkar, one of the woman involved in the dramatic 'die-in'. "The
IOC has a choice between helping the Chinese government stage a
successful propaganda exercise which will likely lead to further
suffering, or defending the Olympic ideals of building a peaceful and
better world."
In addition to raising concerns that Chinese authorities are
escalating repression to ensure a protest-free torch relay, Tibet
activists have pointed out that it's highly inappropriate to allow the
Olympic torch to go through areas facing a severe clampdown, including
a large military presence, house-to-house searches, arbitrary
detentions and arrests, beatings, disappearances and a climate of fear
and intimidation. Since Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001, Tibetans
and their supporters worldwide have vigorously appealed to the IOC not
to allow the Chinese government to use the 2008 Olympics in its
attempts to legitimize its rule in Tibet.
Referring to the young Tibetan nun whose photo was carried by the
Tibetan women during the protest, President of Tibetan Youth
Association in Europe Tendon Dahortsang said, "It is unconscionable to
think that while Sangye Lhamo and others are missing, detained, and
likely being tortured, the IOC will allow the Olympic torch to be
paraded through Tibet." Lhamo is among more than 80 nuns have been
detained since the earthquake of May 12 in various incidents of protest
in Kardze, an area of Eastern Tibet now known as Ganzi Tibetan
Autonomous Prefecture and administered under China's Sichuan Province.
At a press conference in Athens on Tuesday, Lhadon Tethong said,
"As the IOC gives no indication that they will respond to the global
appeals for keeping the torch out of Tibet, providing for media access
to Tibetan areas is a life-and-death matter."
Ms. Tethong was arrested and deported from Beijing last August
after a week of reporting independently on her blog just days before
the one-year countdown to the Games. While there, she made multiple
attempts to meet with Rogge and was finally granted a brief meeting
with a junior staffer. SFT's Deputy Director Tenzin Dorjee spoke with
Rogge in Olympia on the eve of the torch lighting ceremony in March,
asking him for a formal meeting with Tibetans. Mr. Dorjee was arrested
by Greek police the following day.
Photos & Video Available:
http://pressroom.tibetanyouth.org | http://blog.studentsforafreetibet.org/athens
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