Ngawang Sangdrol – a Tibetan Buddhist nun and former political prisoner – made a visit to Poland. She came at the invitation of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights to give testimony to the current situation in Tibet and to appeal for assistance for her country.

At the age of 13, Ngawang was placed under arrest for participating in a peaceful demonstration and shouting out: “Long live Dalai Lama! Free Tibet!”. She was subjected to interrogation, which was accompanied by assault and electrocution. She was released after ten months. At the age of 15, she was once again arrested for participating in an independence demonstration in Lhasa and ended up in the infamous prison in Drapchi. For recording, together with other prisoners, a tape with songs about free Tibet, she was thrown into a disciplinary cell for 6 months and her sentence was extended by 6 years. Her sentence continued to be extended following consecutive protests until it reached 23 years. In 2003, after 11 years of imprisonment at Drapchi, she was released and handed over to the American authorities. She currently works for the International Campaign for Tibet as a researcher and is active in support of improving the living conditions of the Tibetan nation.

In Poland, she participated in a couple of meetings with the public in Szczecin and Warsaw, including i.e. at Warsaw University, and met with the Vice-President of the Polish Sejm Kazimierz M. Ujazdowski, Minister Barbara Labuda and Parliamentary Group of Women.

During the meeting with human rights activists at Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, which took place on Thursday, May 19th, Ngawang asked for support for the plan to peacefully solve the issue of Tibet, which was presented to the Chinese authorities by His Holiness Dalai Lama XIV, and for assistance for the Tibet nation.