Reporters without Borders has launched a petition for the release of Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen, who was arrested by the chinese authorities on 23 March 2008 while making a documentary in Tibet.

In a statement released on Friday, Reporters Without Borders said, "Without a major campaign on behalf of this courageous man, who took the risk of returning to his country to interview other Tibetans, the Chinese court could give him a jail sentences.

Wangchen's wife, Lhamo Tso, who lives in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala, told Reporters Without Borders she does not know the exact reasons for his arrest. She said that he was reticent about the purpose of his trip when he set off for Tibet in October 2007. After losing touch, she finally learned that that he had been arrested in March 2008 in the Siling area in eastern Tibet.

Wangchen's film, Leaving Fear Behind" is 25 minute documentary that shows Tibetans in tha Amdo region expressing their views on the Dalai  Lama and the Beijing Olympics. He managed to send his videocassettes out of Tibet before he was arrested.