TENZIN DELEG RINPOCHE

That this House expresses its deep concern at the death sentence facing respected Buddhist religious leader, Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, in Tibet, that was handed down in an unfair trial on 2nd December 2002 and confirmed in a retrial in January; notes that neither trial conformed to international standards of justice and that Rinpoche has been held incommunicado since then; further notes that this brutally harsh treatment could set back the recent welcome dialogue between the People's Republic of China and representatives of His Holiness the Dalai Lama; and calls upon the UK Government to put pressure on the Chinese authorities as an act of clemency to remove the death sentence and allow a fair and free retrial in the presence of international impartial observers.