08 Mar 2012 02:23:08
A leading Tibetan writer has said she remains under house arrest in Beijing after police prevented her from attending a ceremony in her honour at the Dutch embassy.
Poet and blogger Tsering Woeser was due to receive the 2011 Prince Claus award, co-sponsored by the Dutch foreign ministry, at the ambassador's residence on Thursday. But Chinese police told her on Wednesday that she could not go and that her door was being watched, Woeser said on Friday. She added that she was now under house arrest.
The director of the Prince Claus Fund, Christa Meindersma, said: "The fact that Tsering Woeser is not free to leave her home and freely express herself demonstrates once again the importance of her voice."
The Dutch embassy declined to comment.
Woeser gained international attention as a blogger for her posts after ethnic violence erupted in Tibet in March 2008. "Since then the blog has been swallowing up my time and energy. Yet Tibetans are taking such great risks that I cannot permit myself to stop blogging," she said in an interview with Radio Netherlands last December. Woeser said then she believed the prize "offers me protection" compared with most Tibetans.
