{"id":12926,"date":"2023-07-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-02T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/nieuws\/dalai-lama-meets-tibetan-ex-political-prisoner\/"},"modified":"2023-07-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2023-07-02T22:00:00","slug":"dalai-lama-meets-tibetan-ex-political-prisoner","status":"publish","type":"nieuws","link":"https:\/\/savetibet.nl\/en\/news\/dalai-lama-meets-tibetan-ex-political-prisoner\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalai Lama meets Tibetan ex-political prisoner"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Tibetan former political prisoner had an audience with the Dalai Lama this past weekend 15 years after he was arrested and tortured for making a documentary about China\u2019s brutal occupation of Tibet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dhondup Wangchen, alongside his wife Lhamo Tso and other family members, met the Tibetan Buddhist leader on 1 July in the Dalai Lama\u2019s exile home in Dharamsala, India.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photos shared by the Dalai Lama\u2019s office show him posing with the family and blessing the head of Dhondup Wangchen, who was making his first visit to India since arriving in the United States in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voice of America<\/a> reported that: \u201cDuring this momentous meeting, Wangchen presented a collection of video messages he had gathered from Tibetans living within Tibet. These messages carried the heartfelt longing and hope of the Tibetan people to see the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to their homeland, Tibet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International Campaign for Tibet President Tencho Gyatso said: \u201cWe are so happy that Dhondup Wangchen was able to finally visit Dharamsala with his loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDhondup Wangchen has suffered enormously for his courageous activism in support of the Tibetan people. After all he has endured, it is wonderful to see him get the audience of a lifetime with His Holiness the Dalai Lama.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018Leaving Fear Behind\u2019<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In August 2008, Dhondup Wangchen\u2019s documentary, \u201cLeaving Fear Behind,\u201d premiered in secret before a group of foreign journalists in Beijing just days before that year\u2019s Summer Olympics in the Chinese capital began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film provided a rare glimpse into life in Tibet under China\u2019s brutal occupation, showing Tibetans describing in their own words the reality of Chinese rule, as well as their feelings about the Dalai Lama and the Olympic Games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Appearing onscreen toward the end of the 25-minute documentary, Dhondup Wangchen says his goal was \u201cnot to make a famous or particularly entertaining film. This film is about the plight of the Tibetan people\u2013helpless and frustrated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watch \u201cLeaving Fear Behind.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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