HRIC Statement: HRIC Calls upon Chinese Authorities to Release Information on Tibetan TV Producer and Other Detained Individuals

Human Rights in China (HRIC) calls on the PRC authorities to immediately release information about Tibetan performer, writer, and television producer Jamyang Kyi. "With thousands of Tibetans detained or disappeared since the protests that began on March 10, Chinese officials must provide information on their current status, including where and why Jamyang Kyi has been taken into custody," said Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China. "Authorities must ensure that she has access to legal counsel, or release her."

With thousands of Tibetans detained or disappeared since the protests that began on March 10, Chinese officials must provide information on their current status, including where and why Jamyang Kyi has been taken into custody. — Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China

According to reports, Jamyang Kyi was taken from her office at the Qinghai Provincial Television Station on April 1 by plainclothes state security officers. While some reports say that she has been formally arrested by the Xining Public Security Bureau, her current location and the charges against her are unknown.

Jamyang Kyi has worked in the Tibetan language section of the Qinghai Provincial Television Station for over 20 years. In her writing, she focuses on the issues facing Tibetan women and girls. Since the early 1990s, she has released several recordings and has also performed in the United States in recent years.

Following the Tibetan protests that began in March, thousands of Tibetans throughout the Tibet Autonomous Region and other Tibetan areas have been detained or questioned, including those who have traveled internationally. International Campaign for Tibet has reported that at least one person has disappeared from almost every Tibetan household since March 14. Kyi is not known to have participated in any protests.

HRIC continues to support calls from Tibetan and other organizations to allow independent observers and foreign and domestic press into the region.

For more information on related issues, see:

• "HRIC Statement: Stop Crackdowns in Tibet, Start Dialogue," March 14, 2008, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/47798;
• "HRIC Press Advisory: Ethnic Minorities Remain Marginalized, Tensions Rise," April 1, 2008, http://www.hrichina.org/public/contents/48251;
• Human Rights in China, China: Minority Exclusion, Marginalization and Rising Tensions, commissioned by Minority Rights Group International, April 2007, http://www.hrichina.org/public/PDFs/MRG-HRIC.China.Report.pdf;
• International Campaign for Tibet, http://www.savetibet.org;
• Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, http://www.tchrd.org;
• Twelve Suggestions for Dealing with the Tibetan Situation by Some Chinese Intellectuals, Canada Tibet Committee, http://www.tibet.ca/en/newsroom/wtn/1267.