17 May 2015
Members of the exiled Tibetan Women Association protest to demand the immediate release of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, during a gathering to mark the 20th anniversary of his disappearance, in Delhi, India (17 May 2015)
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima is revered by members of the exiled Tibetan community across the world
Tibetan exiles are calling for China to release a high-ranking monk who disappeared 20 years ago when he was just six years old.
The boy was detained by the Chinese authorities just three days after the Dalai Lama declared him to be the reincarnated Panchen Lama.
The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism.
Many consider him to be one of the world’s longest-serving political prisoners.
China has refused provide details of the whereabouts of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima.
Exile Tibetan school children wear masks of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama chosen by Dalai Lama, to mark his 26th birthday in Dharmsala (25 April 2015)
Children at the Dalai Lama’s headquarters in Dharmsala, India, remember Gedhun Choekyi Nyima
In 1995 it anointed its own Panchen Lama, Gyaltsen Norbu, who while popular among some Tibetans has been described by exiles as a “stooge of the atheist Chinese Communist Party government”.
Wangdue Tsering, press spokesman for the Office of Tibet in London, told the BBC that events were taking place on Sunday across the world to mark the 20th anniversary of Gendhun Choekyi Nyima’s disappearance, including a candle-lit vigil outside the Chinese embassy in London.
