Write a letter to the Chinese government, urging them to release Dawa Gyaltsen, Jampel Gyatso, and Dolma Kyab, who have been imprisoned in violation of their right to freedom of expression .

[Date]

His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
People’s Republic of China

Mr. Wang Shengjun
President of the Supreme People’s Court
No.27 Dongjiaominxiang
Dongcheng District, Beijing 100745
People’s Republic of China

Your Excellencies:

I am writing to express my deep concern regarding the suppression of the right to freedom of expression in the Tibet Autonomous Region and to appeal for the release of writers Dawa Gyaltsen, Jampel Gyatso and Dolma Kyab.

Tibetan dissident Dawa Gyaltsen was arrested in November 1995 for writing pro-independence pamphlets which were posted in April 1995 as part of widespread protests against the Chinese authorities. Dawa was charged with carrying out “counter-revolutionary propaganda” and is now serving a 15-year prison sentence at Drapchi Prison, where he has endured abuse at the hands of prison authorities.

Jampel Gyatso, a monk from Drakar Trezong monastery in Qinghai Province, was on the editorial team of the monastery’s journal, The Charm of the Sun and Moon. Jampel was arrested on January 16, 2005 and sentenced to three years re-education through labor (RTL). He is currently being held in Topa RTL Camp at Huangzhong Dzong, near Xining.

Writer and teacher Dolma Kyab was arrested on March 9, 2005 in Lhasa, Tibet for allegedly endangering state security in his unpublished book, The Restless Himalayas, which was comprised of 57 chapters he had written on various topics: democracy, sovereignty of Tibet, Tibet under communism, colonialism, religion and belief, and so forth. Dolma was charged with “espionage” and “illegal border crossing” at a trial conducted in secrecy, and sentenced to ten and a half years in prison. In July, 2007, he was reportedly moved from Chushul prison in Lhasa to Seilong Labor Camp in Xining, and is seriously ill.

All three of these men have been imprisoned for non-violent activities that are protected under Chinese law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. I therefore urge you to facilitate their immediate and unconditional release.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name and Signature]