'Detained' Tibetan activist's wife blames oppressive China for self-immolation protests

New York, Mar 10(ANI): The wife of detained Tibetan documentary maker Dhondup Wangchen broke down in New York as she blamed the Chinese government for the series of self-immolations by protesters in her homeland.

Lhamo Tso, who last spoke to her husband in 2008, appealed for help at an open-air press conference in Times Square, where excerpts of Wangchen's banned documentary titled Leaving Fear Behind, were also shown.

She said her husband's imprisonment reflected Chinese oppression that human rights activists said has led 25 people to set themselves ablaze.

"Why are they doing this? Why are they burning their own bodies? Their life is the most important thing they have. When I hear that Tibetans are self-immolating, I feel a knife through my heart," News 24 quoted Tso, as saying.

She described her husband's trial without a legal defense team and claimed that he has become sick, while serving his six-year sentence.

"I want to ask for your help in the release of my husband - in the release of my husband and in the release of other political prisoners in Tibet. I'm here in the centre of the United States but my heart and mind are always with my husband," she added. (ANI)