Udall Seeks Release of Americans Detained by Chinese for Protesting Beijing Olympics on Mount Everest
UDALL SEEKS RELEASE OF AMERICANS DETAINED BY CHINESE FOR PROTESTING BEIJING OLYMPICS ON MOUNT EVEREST
Colorado Congressman Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs) today urged the State Department to do all it can to secure the release of four American students who were detained on Mount Everest by the Chinese government for calling for independence for Tibet and protesting the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Kierstan Westby of Boulder, Colo. is one of the students being detained.
According to reports, the four American students were detained by the Chinese police and their passports were confiscated after they held up a banner at a base camp on the Tibetan side of Mount Everest that read "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008." The activists were protesting China's plan to take the Olympic torch to the top of Everest on the border between Tibet and Nepal. China has brutally occupied Tibet since 1951, and some see China's plan to run the torch up the mountain as a political statement to play up its claims to Tibet.
"It is my hope that the Chinese would not use the Beijing Olympics to promote their occupation of Tibet. These students were engaging in peaceful protest and the State Department should do all that it can to gain their immediate release. My office will stay in close contact with the State Department as the situation unfolds," said Udall, who visited Tibet during an Everest expedition in 1994.
Udall's office today contacted the office of the Under Secretary of State, Paula Dobriansky, who is the Special Coordinator for Tibetan Issues, to urge that she do everything in her power to gain the release of the four Americans detained. The Chinese have not yet allowed consular access to the four Americans, but Westby relayed by cell phone that they have been well treated.
According to the Under Secretary's office, the Chinese have four days to provide consular access to the detained students. Udall is pushing for that to happen sooner rather than later.
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