Melody Set Free: Ngawang Choephel
	UPDATE 23 January 2002

Thus far, Ngawang has declined to meet with members of the press; instead, he has released the following statement, distributed by the International Campaign for Tibet.

January 23, 2002

First of all I would like to say thank you to all the people who helped me and worked so hard for my release. I am very happy to be out of prison. I am grateful to all the Tibetans who shared their folk music with me in Tibet during my two months travel and even after my imprisonment. I am also grateful to all those who have supported my mother in the struggle to free me during the last six and a half years. Her suffering has been very painful for me, and I am overjoyed at the thought of seeing her again.

My three primary concerns at the moment are my health, my mother, and my fellow Tibetan prisoners. While in Washington DC I am seeing doctors at Georgetown Hospital and George Washington University Hospital, and so far I am encouraged by my test results. As soon as I can I will travel to India to be with my mother and the rest of my family. I plan to return to the United States at a later date.

I am especially grateful to the American government for all its support, and I thank the Chinese government for its ultimate response to the many appeals for my release. I sincerely hope that my release is the first of many more to come in the near future.

Ngawang Choephel