China Releases Tibetan Monk from Prison After 18 Years:
Ngawang Phulchung is 4th PEN Honorary Member Released This Year


For more information contact: Larry Siems, (212) 334-1660, ext. 105,
lsiems@pen.org

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New York, New York, October 29, 2007-PEN American Center today hailed
the release of Ven. Ngawang Phulchung, a senior monk of Drepung
Monastery in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa who was jailed in 1989 for
publishing literature critical of the Chinese occupation of Tibet. The
release came six months before his sentence was due to expire, and
marked the end of one of the longest imprisonments of any political
prisoner in Tibet. Ngawang Phulchung is an Honorary Member of PEN
American Center.

"We are pleased and relieved that the Chinese government has taken the
important step of releasing Ngawang Phulchung from prison, though of
course under international law he should never have been there in the
first place," said Larry Siems, Director of the Freedom to Write and
International Programs at PEN American Center. "We wish Ngawang well as
he attempts to recover from his ordeal and rebuild his life, and we
implore the government of China to release all other writers and
journalists detained in China and the Tibet Autonomous Region simply for
exercising their fundamental right of freedom of expression."

Ngawang Phulchung is currently reported to be with his family in Toelung
Dechen County, but is in very poor health due to torture and inhumane
treatment he suffered in prison. During one publicized incident, he was
beaten unconscious by Chinese army units after taking part in a protest
against prisoner transfers on April 27, 1991. He was reportedly put in
solitary confinement for six weeks following that incident.

Ngawang was one of the leaders of the Drepung printing group, also known
as the "Group of Ten," a publishing collective formed in early 1988
after peaceful demonstrations were violently suppressed by Chinese
authorities on September 17, 1987. The publications of the group
included a Tibetan translation of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and a manifesto, "The Meaning of the Precious Democratic
Constitution of Tibet," which called for a democratic system based on
Buddhist tradition. The group also produced pro-independence leaflets
that were designed to be stuck on walls in Lhasa. One describes how
Tibetans were shot dead by police in pro-independence demonstrations,
and is considered unusual that it presents a sober account of the event
rather than exaggerating the details for propaganda purposes.

PEN remains concerned for Ngawang Phulchung's health, for the continued
imprisonment of dozens of other writers across China and the Tibet
Autonomous Region, and on the state of media freedom in China in the
lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics (see
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/1642/prmID/172).

PEN American Center is the largest of the 141 centers of International
PEN, the world's oldest human rights organization and the oldest
international literary organization. The Freedom to Write Program of
PEN American Center works to protect the freedom of the written word
wherever it is imperiled. It defends writers and journalists from all
over the world who are imprisoned, threatened, persecuted, or attacked
in the course of carrying out their profession. For more information on
Ngawang Phulchung and PEN's work to free another 45 writers who are
currently imprisoned in China, please visit
http://www.pen.org/caselist.pdf