Tibetan Prisoner's Mother Urges Pressure on Chinese

Dabbing her eyes with a cloth and clutching a photograph of her son to her chest, Sonam Dekyi, the mother of Tibetan political prisoner Ngawang Choephel, gave an impassioned plea to Harvard students last night to put pressure on the Chinese government to free her son.

About 50 people showed up in Harvard Hall to listen to a mother's story about a battle to free her only son. Students to Free Tibet, led by Sonia Inamdar '01, brought Dekyi to Harvard as she toured East Coast schools to gather support for the movement to free her son.

Speaking through an interpreter, Dekyi mixed calls for empathy with a mother's love with proclamations of her son's innocence and wrongful imprisonment.

"I do not accept the verdict of the Chinese Government regarding his involvement in political activities," Dekyi said.

Choephel was convicted and sentenced to 18 years in prison by the Chinese government in 1995 for carrying out "espionage activities" for the Tibetan government-in-exile. At the time, he was in Tibet studying traditional Tibetan music and dance, his mother said.

"He was only interested in preserving the Tibetan traditional music," Dekyi said.

Later in the evening, at a candlelight vigil in front of Au Bon Pain, the Harvard University Police (HUPD) asked about 50 protesters to move onto the sidewalk.

Holding signs that said, "Free Ngawang Choephel" and holding candles in Au Bon Pain cups, the demonstrators were herded off Holyoke Center property and onto the sidewalk by HUPD Sergeant Jim L. McCarthy, who was called in by Holyoke Center officials.

McCarthy said the officials believed that the group had caused $800 worth of damage in a demonstration a few months ago. Specific damage included candle wax dripping onto the bricks.

"We've never had any problem in the last five years," said Lopsang Sangay, a doctorate student at Harvard Law School who was involved in past demonstrations. "It's sad that such things happened

all of a sudden."

Dekyi outlined the tortures she said her son had suffered while in prison, including electrocution, being hung by his extremities and exposure to extreme temperatures.

Dekyi said she contracted tuberculosis due to the stress of being separated from her son, and was hospitalized for five months in India following news of his imprisonment.

Choephel was born in Tibet and raised by his mother in India where she fled in 1968, leaving her husband behind. Choephel, who is now 31, was a teacher of Tibetan instruments and music in India and in the U.S.

Dekyi's next stop is Middlebury College in Vermont, where her son studied on a Fulbright Scholarship. Following that, she will travel to Europe, before she returns home to India.

Prior to her tour of the United States, which was co-sponsored by Amnesty International, Dekyi sat on the streets of Delhi passing out pamphlets to draw international attention to her son's plight.

She plans on returning to her lean-to there following her Europe tour.

"I have great hopes in the people of the United States and especially the students of the United States," said Dekyi. She asked the audience to write to the United States government to put pressure on the Chinese government to release her son.

"My only thought after hearing what she said is that I have to do something. I have to participate," said Nicholas A. Fortunato, a Cambridge resident

all of a sudden."

Dekyi outlined the tortures she said her son had suffered while in prison, including electrocution, being hung by his extremities and exposure to extreme temperatures.

Dekyi said she contracted tuberculosis due to the stress of being separated from her son, and was hospitalized for five months in India following news of his imprisonment.

Choephel was born in Tibet and raised by his mother in India where she fled in 1968, leaving her husband behind. Choephel, who is now 31, was a teacher of Tibetan instruments and music in India and in the U.S.

Dekyi's next stop is Middlebury College in Vermont, where her son studied on a Fulbright Scholarship. Following that, she will travel to Europe, before she returns home to India.

Prior to her tour of the United States, which was co-sponsored by Amnesty International, Dekyi sat on the streets of Delhi passing out pamphlets to draw international attention to her son's plight.

She plans on returning to her lean-to there following her Europe tour.

"I have great hopes in the people of the United States and especially the students of the United States," said Dekyi. She asked the audience to write to the United States government to put pressure on the Chinese government to release her son.

"My only thought after hearing what she said is that I have to do something. I have to participate," said Nicholas A. Fortunato, a Cambridge resident