The 76-year-old Sangpo was reportedly released on medical parole and is currently staying with his niece, Pema Chozom a retired teacher, in Lhasa. Chozom had often visited Sangpo when he was in prison.

The release of Sangpo was expected for some time, particularly after Chinese government officials began to send signals to members of Congress that they were prepared to let Sangpo out for medical treatment. However, the Chinese authorities said that Sangpo did not wish to be released.

Sangpo’s release comes as the United Nations Commission on Human Rights is having its annual session in Geneva. China’s treatment of the Tibetan people was raised by several governments, which called for satisfactory autonomy and self-determination in Tibet. It also comes as the European Union’s Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten, who is currently visiting China, called for the resumption of dialogue between the Chinese leadership and His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Born 1926, Tanak Jigme Sangpo was reportedly first arrested in 1960 while teaching at Lhasa Primary School and charged with ‘corrupting the minds of children with reactionary ideas.’ In 1964 he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment in Sangyip Prison over comments regarding Chinese repression of Tibetans, and he was then sent to labor camp in Lhasa. In 1970 he was sentenced to ten years hard labor in Sangyip Prison on charges of inciting his niece to escape to India to report Chinese atrocities to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Tanak Jigme Sangpo was released from prison in 1979 and transferred to the Reform-Through-Labor Unit 1 in Nyethang, west of Lhasa, but he was arrested again on 3 September, 1983, by the Lhasa City Public Security Bureau.

In the official sentence paper, issued on 30 November, 1983, the Lhasa City Intermediate People’s Court noted that the defendant had evidently never seriously re-considered his past “counter-revolutionary crimes”. He was therefore charged with “spreading and inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda” and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in addition to five years deprivation of civil and political rights. On 1 December, 1988, Sangpo was again prosecuted for raising “reactionary slogans” relating to Chinese suppression of Tibet whilst in Drapchi prison (also called the “Tibet Autonomous Region” Prison). Found once more guilty of “spreading and inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda,” his sentence was increased by five years and the period of deprivation of civil and political rights extended a further year.

Sangpo was subsequently sentenced on 4 April, 1992, to a further eight years’ imprisonment and an additional three years deprivation of civil and political rights. This brings his current sentence to 28 years, and had his sentenced been carried on to term to September 2011, he would have spent 41 years in prison.

“I welcome this decision by the People’s Republic of China to release the longest-serving political prisoner of Tibet,” said Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche, the Kalon Tripa of the Kashag (the highest executive body of the Central Tibetan Administration).

“Yet I hope that this is not a token gesture by the Chinese authorities and that they are seriously concerned about the plight of political prisoners in Tibet.”

“We plea to the People’s Republic of China to release other Tibetan political prisoners languishing in various prisons and sincerely hope that the Chinese leadership will find the courage, wisdom and vision to solve the Tibetan issue through negotiations”, added Samdhong Rinpoche.

“I take this opportunity to thank every individual, Tibet Support Groups, human rights organisations, parliamentarians and governments who have worked so hard for Tanak Jigme’s release”, said the Kalon Tripa.

Jigme Zangpo’s release on medical parole is the second high-profile release of a Tibetan political prisoner this year. Tibetan ethnomusicologist Ngawang Choephel was released on medical parole and arrived in the United States on 20 January after serving six years of an 18-year sentence for espionage. The release of Ngawang Choephel occurred in the run-up to the February summit in Beijing between US President George Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

John Kamm, Director of the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, who was also involved in the negotiations for the release of both Jigme Sangpo and Ngawang Choephel, told Tibet Information Network that Jigme Zangpo’s release was: “another indication that the Chinese government will eventually respond to international pressure.”