Dhondup Wangchen

Posted Thu, 09/10/2009 - 18:08 by Jigme

Related to:

Political Prisoners

Dhondup Wangchen (left) and Jigme Gyatso (or Golog Jigme, right) are the filmmakers of Leaving Fear Behind, a remarkable documentary that gives a rare glimpse of the thoughts, feelings, and struggles of Tibetans living under occupation.

Dhondup Wangchen - Filmmaker; political prisoner
Age: 34
Status: Sentenced to Six Years on December 28, 2010.
Detained on: March 26, 2008

ARRESTED FOR INTERVIEWING TIBETANS IN TIBET FOR A DOCUMENTARY FILM THAT GAVE A VOICE TO THE VOICELESS

Dhondup Wangchen was born on 17 October 1974 in Bayen in the Tsoshar region of Amdo, the northeastern province of Tibet.

Born into a farming family, Dhondup received no formal education and as a young man, he moved to Lhasa where he become aware of the grave threat faced by the Tibetan people.

In 1993, Dhondup, along with his cousin Gyaljong Tsetrin, made the arduous journey out of Tibet to India, traveling on foot over 5,000 meter passes to receive a teaching by the Dalai Lama. Soon thereafter, both returned to Tibet further motivated to work for the benefit of the Tibetan people but in 2002, Tsetrin was forced to flee Tibet and received political asylum in Switzerland.

In 2007 the two cousins began to work in collaboration on the film ‘Leaving Fear Behind’, with Dhondup in Tibet and Gyaljong in Switzerland.

Dhondup, with the help of his friend Jigme Gyatso, set out with extraordinary courage to film Tibetans in Tibet describe in their own words their views and feelings about the Dalai Lama, the Beijing Olympic Games and Chinese laws in Tibet. They traveled thousands of miles and overcame innumerable hurdles, determined to bring the unheard voices of the Tibetan people to the world stage.

The resulting interviews are a remarkable portrayal of ordinary Tibetans and their stories of hardship and courage that gives a rare glimpse of the thoughts, feelings, and struggles of Tibetans living under occupation. For the filmmakers, revealing their identities was always a part of the plan. Fully aware of the risks they took, they rejected anonymity as an option. In order for the film to be made, fear had to be truly set aside.

The footage for the film was smuggled out of Tibet in early March 2008.

On 26 March 2008, Dhondup Wangchen was detained in Tongde eastern Tibet (Ch: Qinghai Province). Jigme Gyatso was also detained in late March 2008 but released “temporarily” in October 2008. Although China has not yet officially confirmed the sentencing of Dhondup Wangchen, the Tibetan government in exile and Radio Free Asia have reported that a six year sentence was passed on 28 December 2009. Relatives have since reported that Dhondup Wangchen has appealed his sentence.

Serious concern for the fairness of Dhondup Wangchen's trial remains. The lawyers that were appointed by his family were forced by the Chinese authorities to stop representing Dhondup, which means, despite requests by international government, , his trial was carried out behind closed doors with a lack of due legal process. Dhondup Wangchen’s wife Lhamo-tso, who now lives with their four young children in Dharamsala, India, continues to appeal to China and the international community for her husband’s release

In Dhondup Wangchen’s own words:

“At a time of great difficulty and a feeling of helplessness, [the idea of our film is to] get some meaningful response and results. It is very difficult [for Tibetans] to go to Beijing and speak out there. So that is why we decided to show the real feelings of Tibetans inside Tibet through this film.”

Send an email to Qinghai's Party Secretary, calling for Dhondup Wangchen's Immediate Release.

Further information on the film is available from the Leaving Fear Behind website.

In this section

Find a Tibet Group

Want to get involved? Find a Tibet organisation near you, using our worldwide interactive map.

Find a Group

Facts about Tibet

Tibet lies at the centre of Asia, with an area of 2.5 million square kilometres (approximately 1 million square miles).

Despite over 50 years of Chinese occupation of Tibet, the Tibetan people refuse to be conquered and subjugated by China.

The Tibetan Plateau is the highest and biggest plateau in the world, so Tibet is referred to as “the roof of the world”.

For Tibetans, the term Tibet means the 3 provinces of U'Tsang, Kham and Amdo, the area traditionally known as Tibet before China's invasion.

The English word Tibet is derived from the Arabic word Tubbat. This word is in turn derived via Persian from the Turkic word Tobad, meaning ‘the heights’.

Tibet was occupied by China in 1949, and the Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959.

Hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have died as a direct result of Chinese occupation since 1949.

There are six million Tibetans in Tibet and roughly 150,000 Tibetans in exile in India and other countries.

Tibetans consider the Dalai Lama to be the temporal as well as spiritual leader of Tibet.

Thousands of Tibetans cross the mighty Himalaya on foot every year into exile, risking death, injuries and arrest.

Most Tibetans are Buddhist, but there are Muslims, Christians and practitioners of Bon, the indigenous religion of Tibet.

In 1948 Tibetan government representatives traveled to the US, UK and France on Tibetan government issued passports.

The exiled Tibetan people elected their first Prime Minister in 2000

In 2008, Tibetans took part in more than 130 separate peaceful protests against the Chinese government across the Tibetan Plateau.

Displaying a photograph of the Dalai Lama in Tibet can result in arrest.

In 1995 the Chinese government abducted the 6 year old Panchen Lama, one of Tibet's most important spiritual leaders. He is still missing.

The longest epic poem in the world is the story of a legendary Tibetan king, Gesar of Ling.

The Tibetan Plateau is the Earth's "Third Pole," providing life-sustaining waters for and regulating weather across south and east Asia.

March 10 is Tibetan National Uprising day. It marks the massive uprising in Tibet in 1959 that led to the escape of the Dalai Lama into exile.

Yak is a Tibetan term for the male of the species. Its female counterpart is called Dri.

Tibetans are denied many of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including the right to self- determination, freedom of speech and religion.

Untll 1949 Tibet had its own government that managed its own domestic and foreign affairs; Tibet had its own national flag and its own currency.

According to Amnesty International more than 1,000 Tibetans were unaccounted for after the protests of 2008.

In the Tibetan Lunar Calendar, the year 2009 corresponds to the year 2136, the Year of the Earth Ox.

Prior to the uprisings of 2008, the last major protests by Tibetans against China's occupation of Tibet took place in 1989, when martial law was declared.