§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will ask the Chinese authorities to release the former abbot of Tashilunpo monastery in southern Tibet, Chadrel Rinpoche, who was sentenced last April to six years in jail for "conspiring to split China and for leaking state secrets"; and whether they will propose that the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention should seek an invitation to visit Tibet to investigate a report, published in September by a seven member delegation of the German Bundestag's subcommittee on human rights, that 200 monks and nuns are arbitrarily imprisoned in Tibet.
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanOn 18 September a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Department for International Development delegation visiting China raised Chadrel Rinpoche's case with the authorities. The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention visited Tibet during their recent 10 day trip to China.