Calls for release of Tibetan film maker

The Paris-based media pressure organisation, Reporters Sans Frontieres, has demanded the release of a Tibetan film maker detained in southwest China since 1995.

The group said it had sent a letter to China's minister of justice Gao Changli.

It said that the man, Ngawang Choephel, was seriously ill with bronchitis and hepatitis and that his state of health was linked to the harsh conditions at the high security prison, where he has been detained from July 1998.

Ngawang Choephel who used to live in the United States and specialized in Tibetan dance and music was arrested in August 1995 in the province of Shigatse, in Tibet, while shooting a documentary on Tibetan culture.

He was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for spying and counter-revolutionary activities -- charges which he denies.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service