LONGEST SERVIVING POLITICAL PRISONER IN

LONGEST SERVIVING POLITICAL PRISONER IN CHINA, a Tibetan Scholar, Arrives in U.S.

AP says:

By all accounts China’s longest-serving political prisoner, Jigme Sangpo, a primary-school teacher, was first sentenced to three years of “re-education through labour” in 1965, according to the London-based Tibet Information Network, a monitoring group. It cited “reliable reports” as indicating that he also served a 10-year sentence from 1970-1980 for political activities.

Jigme Sangpo was arrested again in September 1983 and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of “counterrevolutionary incitement and propaganda” for campaigning against Chinese rule in Tibet, according to Kamm.

His sentence was extended twice after that and had been due to expire on Sept. 3, 2011, when he would be in his mid-80s. Prison authorities exempted him from physical labor several years ago because of his age, Kamm said.