Tibetan nun released from jail

Tibetan nun Phuntsog Nyidron - the last of the so-called 'Drapchi 14' group - was released from prison yesterday.

San Francisco-based lobbyist John Kamm said he had been informed by mainland officials that the 37-year-old nun was freed and reunited with her family in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.

The Drapchi 14 were Tibetan nuns who sang songs of freedom while in prison in 1993 to express their devotion to the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

Phuntsog Nyidron - who was due to be released in March next year - was often described by overseas human rights groups as Tibet's longest-serving female prisoner of conscience and had spent the past 15 years in jail.