Bloggers Unite for Human Rights: Free Tibet

The reporter, Jamyang Kyi, 42, an announcer at the state-run television station in Qinghai, a western province bordering Tibet, was escorted from her office on April 1 by plainclothes police officers in the city of Xining, according to colleagues and friends. The authorities also confiscated her computer and a list of contacts, they said.

Xining lies in an area with ethnic Tibetan populations and has seen anti-China protests and unrest since demonstrations broke out March 10 in Lhasa on the 49th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule.

Jamyang Kyi is well-known as a performer of pop and traditional songs and for her blog. She is a respected intellectual and blogger who has written about women’s rights and the trafficking of girls. She has travelled extensively, including a 2006 trip to the United States to perform and lecture.

Jamyang Kyi is not known to have had past trouble with authorities and it wasn’t clear what drew their interest this time. However, Beijing maintains strict controls over culture and education among Tibetans.

Her husband, Lamao Jia, who is also a journalist and a writer, said he had received no word from his wife for more than a week and did not know where she was being held. “She is in serious trouble,” he said in a telephone interview. “I’m very worried for her safety. I’m very sorry. I can’t say more.”

There has been no official confirmation of the detention.

While there was no official confirmation of her detention, Jamyang Kyi appears to be one of the highest profile figures targeted in a wide-ranging crackdown on dissent that followed the widespread protests against Chinese rule.

China Cracks down on Tibetans

According to Xinhua, China’s official news agency, 2,200 people, 519 of them monks, have been taken into custody since the riots began in mid-March. The agency said 1,870 of those had been released after questioning, but officials are still seeking scores of people who took part in disturbances that the government contends killed 19 people, nearly all of them Han Chinese. Tibetan exiles put the figure at 140 and say most of the dead were Tibetan.

I have signed an urgent petition calling on the Chinese government to respect human rights in Tibet and engage in meaningful dialog with the Dalai Lama. This is really important, and I thought you might want to participate.

Petition to Chinese President Hu Jintao:

As citizens around the world, we call on you to show restraint and respect for human rights in your response to the protests in Tibet, and to address the concerns of all Tibetans by opening meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama. Only dialogue and reform will bring lasting stability. China’s brightest future, and its most positive relationship with the world, lies in harmonious development, dialogue and respect.

After nearly 50 years of Chinese rule, the Tibetans are sending out a global cry for change. But violence is spreading across Tibet and neighboring regions, and the Chinese regime is right now considering a choice between increasing brutality or dialog, that could determine the future of Tibet and China.

China is a sprawling, diverse country with much brutality in its past, so it has good reasons to be concerned about stability - some of Tibet’s rioters killed innocent people. But President Hu must recognize that the greatest danger to Chinese stability and development today comes from hardliners who advocate escalating repression, not from those Tibetans seeking dialog and reform.

We can affect this historic choice. China does care about its international reputation. Its economy is totally dependent on “Made in China” exports that we all buy, and it is keen to make the Olympics in Beijing this summer a celebration of a new China that is a respected world power.

President Hu needs to hear that ‘Brand China’ and the Olympics can succeed only if he makes the right choice. But it will take an avalanche of global people power to get his attention. Click below to join me and sign a petition to President Hu calling for restraint in Tibet and dialogue with the Dalai Lama — and tell absolutely everyone you can right away.

The petition is organized by Avaaz, and they were aiming to reach 1 million signatures to deliver directly to Chinese officials. 1,672,416 have signed–1 million target reached in just 7 days! The petition will grow and be delivered until talks begin… help us get to 2,000,000

Add Your Signature Here

References:
Prominent Tibetan Figure Held by China
Tibetan TV reporter and entertainer detained in China
How Open Is the International Internet?
Related posts found on this blog:
WordPress: Bloggers Unite for Human Rights
Bloggers Unite for Human Rights

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