URGENT ACTION

TIBETAN FILMMAKER JAILED AFTER UNFAIR TRIAL

Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen was sentenced to six years' imprisonment on 28 December for "subversion of state power," after a secret, unfair trial by Xining City Intermediate Court, in western China’s Qinghai province. The authorities have refused to let him appeal.

The court gave Dhondup Wangchen's family no information about the trial, the verdict or the sentence. At the end of June 2009, the authorities had charged Dhondup Wangchen with "inciting splittism" but it is not clear when his trial took place or if he had legal representation.

Dhondup Wangchen was detained on 26 March 2008. His family have not been allowed to meet him. He met with his family-appointed lawyers for the first and only time in April 2009. The authorities later barred these lawyers from representing him. He has been tortured and suffers from Hepatitis B for which he is not receiving any medical treatment.

Before he was detained, Dhondup Wangchen had made a documentary in which Tibetans criticized the Chinese authorities, and spoke about their lives and their views on the Dalai Lama.

PLEASE WRITE IMMEDIATELY in Chinese, English or your own language:

- urging the authorities to release Dhondup Wangchen immediately and unconditionally, as he is a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for his peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression;

- urging them to guarantee that while he remains in custody, he will not be tortured or otherwise ill-treated, and will have access to his family, legal assistance of his choosing and any medical care he may require;

- asking them to order a prompt and impartial investigation into the torture and other ill-treatment of Dhondup Wangchen, and bring those responsible to justice.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 19 FEBRUARY 2010 TO: