“What an honour” Kanter Freedom says after virtual meeting with Dalai Lama
DHARAMSALA, 24 Feb: NBA veteran Enes Kanter Freedom, an outspoken critic of the Chinese government’s human rights abuses has said that he is honoured following his virtual meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
“What an honor!!,” NBA veteran Freedom has tweeted after he had a virtual audience with the Dalai Lama on Wednesday.
“Thank you for your support and friendship,” Freedom added tagging the Dalai lama on Twitter, accompanied by a heart emoji.
While the details of his virtual meeting with the Dalai Lama is unavailable, he finished his tweet with a quote from the Tibetan Nobel Laureate, “The world doesn’t belong to leaders, the world belongs to ALL humanity.”
Though the NBA has kowtowed to China and shown the door to Freedom, a veteran of 11 NBA seasons, a Norwegian Parliament member has nominated him for the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize.
Additionally, Freedom was declared the winner of the Geneva Summit’s 2022 Courage Award.
Freedom will receive the Geneva Summit’s 2022 Courage Award at a ceremony on 6th April and address UN ambassadors, human rights activists and journalists from around the world attending the 14th annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, a cross-regional coalition of 25 human rights organizations has announced on Tuesday, reports United Nations Watch, the co-organizer of the conference.
The 6 ft 10 – inch center, born in Switzerland and raised in Turkey became a US citizen last November which he marked by changing his last name to Freedom describes himself as a decades-long critic of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had his passport cancelled and his father arrested for daring to call out human rights violations by Turkish President Erdogan.
The 29-year-old baller was traded to the Houston Rockets on 10 February by his former team Celtics, four days later, he was released by the Rockets- which media reports suspect is the NBA’s punishment for him for speaking out on China, and to silence him.
Freedom, a veteran of 11 NBA seasons has don the jersey of Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Portland Trail Blazers and the Celtics on the basketball court. He has career averages of 11.2 points and 7.8 rebounds over 748 regular-season games.
Freedom, now a free agent has reportedly said that he’s open to continuing his career in Greece.
