Tibetan student body demands release of activist jailed in China

Students for Free Tibet (SFT) on 8 January called on the Chinese government to release Tashi Wangchuk, who has been jailed in China for "inciting separatism".

Wangchuk's trial was held last week and reports indicate that the trial was adjourned without a verdict being delivered.

The SFT activists gathered at the Main Square of Mcleodganj here and screened a short film on Wangchuk to make the people aware about the issue.

Wangchuk is a 32-year-old Tibetan entrepreneur and an education advocate, who was detained by the Chinese police on January 27, 2016, after he appeared in a New York Times video in which he advocated for the rights of Tibetans to learn and study in their mother tongue.

In March 2016, he was charged with "inciting separatism", and could face up to 15 years in prison, if convicted.

In 2015, the New York Times released the video "A Tibetan's Journey for Justice", which reported Wangchuk's attempts to file a lawsuit over the wafer thin usage of Tibetan language as medium of instructions in Tibetan schools. "I want to try to use the People's Republic of China's laws to solve the problem," Tashi had said in the documentary. 

-ANI