Click here for a Chinese translation of this letter
Click here for a Tibetan translation of this letter

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2018

Open Letter from USCIRF Commissioner Tenzin Dorjee to the Panchen Lama on His 29^th Birthday (April 25, 2018)

Washington, D.C. – 

Your Holiness Gedhun Choekyi Nyima:

Tashi Delek. With mixed feelings, I write you again, this year to wish you a happy and healthy 29^th birthday. Unfortunately, you may never read this, but please know that all Commissioners on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Tibetans, and friends around the world are thinking of you on this special day.

Ever since you were abducted as a young child at the age of six, the Chinese government has refused to let international observers visit you and censored even basic information about you and your whereabouts. As much as the Chinese government wants us to forget you, please know that we remember you every day. As each year passes by, our resolve to find you and restore you to your rightful role becomes stronger.

Your Holiness, your Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, located among the Tibetan diaspora in India, and Students for a Free Tibet have joined together to mark your 29^th birthday in a campaign for “The Most Candles Lit on a Birthday Cake” to break a Guinness World Record. The world will know that we will celebrate your birthday in absentia and recite and chant prayers for your long life and wellbeing. While the Chinese government has taken away your religious identity and rights, nobody can change the fact that you are the 11^th Panchen Lama as recognized by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

As a Tibetan-American and USCIRF Commissioner, it is my honor, privilege, and responsibility to advocate on behalf of you and other prisoners of conscience in China and Tibet. U.S. Representative James McGovern has joined me to “adopt” you as our prisoner of conscience and we coordinate our advocacy efforts for your freedom and wellbeing. In fact, last year, we coauthored an op-ed in defense of human rights in Tibet. In the last year alone, I have testified twice before the U.S. Congress about freedom of religion or belief in Tibet, once in July 2017 and again in February 2018. At USCIRF’s event on April 18, 2018 marking the 20^th anniversary of the International Religious Freedom Act, I advocated for justice to Your Holiness and Gulmira Imin, a Uighur Muslim prisoner of conscience, and others. Also, my USCIRF colleague, Vice Chairwoman Sandra Jolley, and I coauthored an op-ed in November 2017 to advocate on behalf of you and Ms. Imin.

Your Holiness, on behalf of all Tibetans, most respectfully, I offer you traditional mandala for your long and healthy life along with fervent prayer for your freedom and receiving your blessing in person.

May we, or at least you, celebrate your 30^th birthday in freedom.

Most respectfully,

Tenzin Dorjee

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Tenzin Dorjee is a Commissioner at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a U.S. government body that monitors the universal right to religious freedom. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. Commissioner Dorjee is the first Tibetan Buddhist appointed to serve on the Commission. To interview Commissioner Dorjee or another Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Isaac Six, Associate Director of Congressional Affairs ([email protected] +1-202-786-0606).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 16, 2018

Turkey Misses Opportunity to Release Pastor Andrew Brunson, Sets Next Hearing for May 7

“We are deeply disappointed that Turkish officials today decided to prolong their prosecution and unjust imprisonment of Pastor Andrew Brunson,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Daniel Mark

WASHINGTON, DC -- The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) was disappointed today by a Turkish court decision to continue proceedings in the case of Pastor Andrew Brunson, an American citizen and leader of a small Protestant Christian church who is facing up to 35 years imprisonment on false terrorism and espionage related charges. USCIRF has condemned the charges against Pastor Brunson and called for his immediate release.

“We are deeply disappointed that Turkish officials today decided to prolong their prosecution and unjust imprisonment of Pastor Andrew Brunson,” said USCIRF Chairman Dr. Daniel Mark. “USCIRF’s position is clear. Pastor Brunson is an innocent religious leader whose imprisonment for over 18 months on false allegations is an abomination. This latest development is yet another reason for the international community to condemn his imprisonment and for Congress and the administration to consider stronger steps against Turkey, including the imposition of targeted sanctions against those involved in this miscarriage of justice.”  

Pastor Brunson was initially detained by Turkish officials on October 7, 2016 and accused of membership in an armed terrorist organization. On March 13, Turkish prosecutors indicted Pastor Brunson on terrorism and espionage related charges, seeking a sentence of up to 35 years imprisonment. Pastor Brunson has lived and worked in Turkey for over 22 years.

High-level U.S. officials, including President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, have called for Pastor Brunson’s release.  

On October 5, 2017, USCIRF Vice Chairs Sandra Jolley and Kristina Arriaga were granted access to Kiriklar Prison in Izmir and allowed to visit with Pastor Brunson. They were his first visitors outside of family, legal counsel, and U.S. embassy officials. They described their visit in an opinion editorial for Religion News Service, which can be found here.

In 2017, USCIRF placed Turkey on its Tier 2 for violations of religious freedom and began advocating for Pastor Brunson as a part of its Religious Prisoners of Conscience Project.

For more information, see USCIRF’s 2017 annual report chapter on Turkey.

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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan U.S. federal government commission, the first of its kind in the world. USCIRF reviews the facts and circumstances of religious freedom violations abroad and makes policy recommendations to the President, the Secretary of State, and Congress. USCIRF Commissioners are appointed by the President and the Congressional leadership of both political parties. To interview a Commissioner, please contact USCIRF at [email protected] or Isaac Six, Associate Director of Congressional Affairs ([email protected] +1-202-786-0606).