30 November 1996
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Religious repression continues:
Monk expelled from "Splittist" Monastery
[ read ]
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Abbot expelled and nuns arrested
[ read ]
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Fleeing Tibetans arrested
[ read ]
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Discrimination of Tibetan farmers
[ read ]
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Tibetan artist tortured
[ read ]
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Profile:
New longest imprisoned female political prisoner
[ read ]
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More Political Sentences
[ read ]
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"Last battle" against Tibetan spiritual life
[ read ]
The following is taken from an account provided to
the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy on 26
November by Tsultrim Gyaltsen who arrived in India this
week from Tibet.
Tsultrim Gyaltsan is a 20-year-old monk from Dunbhu
Choekhor Monastery (Sakya Monastery) in Chideshol under
Lhokha sub district. A Work Inspection Team composed of
6 or 7 members had been giving regular "re-education"
classes to the monks of Dunbhu Choekhor Monastery,
sometimes up to three times a day.
On 18 April 1996, the monks were called for a meeting as
usual. During the course of the meeting, members of the
Work Inspection Team demanded that the monks sign their
names to a document denouncing His Holiness the Dalai Lama
and rejecting Gendun Choekyi Nyima, the young reincarnation
of Panchen Lama recognised by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
in May 1995. The document described the Dalai Lama as a
"splittist" trying to split up the "motherland".
Tsultrim Gyaltsen and three other monks refused to sign the
document, and as a result, were issued with a green book
and expelled from the monastery. If a monk is issued with a
red book it means that they can stay in the monastery while
the receipt of a green book represents immediate expulsion.
Tsultrim Gyaltsen explained, "The Dunbhu Choekhor
Monastery was not looked upon favourably by the Chinese
authorities. The monastery was labelled "splittist
monastery" after twenty seven monks of the monastery
were arrested over the years for engaging in political
activities."
Tsultrim Gyaltsen belonged to a secret underground movement
of ten monks. In 1992, he and his friends were arrested
for sticking wall posters calling for a free Tibet. He was
locked up for 3 days at police headquarters at Chedeshol,
Lhokha sub district, and kept in solitary confinement
for that time without any food. He was released when the
Chinese authorities were unable to find any evidence to
link him directly to the events.
"One morning in 1993 the monks woke up to find the
monastery surrounded by Chinese soldiers who travelled in
about fifty military trucks. The soldiers fired shots in
the air to scare the monks and then came into the monastery
and arrested seven monks who were accused of forming a
secret political movement. The monks were then taken to
Nedong Prison at Tsethang Dzong about 191 km from Lhasa. At
present two of the seven monks are in Drapchi Prison.
The two monks are Lobsang and Migmar Tsering".
In April 1995, while Tsultrim Gyaltsen was serving as the
caretaker of his monastery's temple, he was warned by a
Chinese friend to remove all pictures of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama. "The next day there was a raid on the monastery
and the Chinese confiscated some smaller pictures of His
Holiness the Dalai Lama that I had purposely left on the
altar so as not to incur any suspicion."
"In April 1996 I escaped to Lhasa. While in Lhasa I
witnessed 3 truck loads of Tibetans being carted in. These
Tibetans had been arrested while trying to escape to India
through Nepal. They complained of having been locked up
for several days at the border and looted of the little
money they carried." Tsultrim was able to escape to India
through Bhutan along with three other young people. He
arrived in Dharamsala, India, in late November 1996.
[ top ]
Rev. Palden Dhondup,
the 80-year-old abbot of Chubsang Nunnery north of Lhasa,
was expelled from the nunnery in July 1996.
According to our source, on July 1
("Zamling Chisang", or the festival of incense offering)
four Chubsang nuns were arrested for demonstrating in the Barkhor area of
the Jokhang Temple. They were; Phuntsok Youdon (20) from
Medro Gong, Thinley Yangkyi (18) from Rading and Nyida
Wangmo (17) from Lhokha. The name of the fourth nun is
as yet unknown.
On July 2, a further four Chubsang nuns were arrrested,
again for demonstrations. They were; Jamphel (22) from
Taktse, Lobsang Choeden (17) from Taktse, Tsering Lhamo
(20) from Rading and the name of the fourth is presently
unknown.
On 2 July 1996 officials from the Lhasa Religious Bureau
and Dhondup, the Secretary of Treng Kon County of Nyang
Rel Sub-district, CCP, Dhondup, along with eight of his
colleagues arrived at the nunnery. The abbot and the nuns
were called for a meeting during which Dhondup threatened
to expel any nun who refused to pledge allegiance to the
"Motherland" and refrain from engaging in "separatist
activities".
The same day, Sec. Dhondup said that Paldan Dhondup
was too old to carry out his responsibilities as the
abbot of the nunnery and so he would be relieved of his
responsibilities. Paldan Dorje wanted to speak out but
he was not given a chance. On July 3, the same officials
came to the nunnery and conducted an election for the
appointment of the Director of the nunnery's "Democratic
Management Committee". All of the nuns voted for Paldan
Dhondup but they announced the name of a monk Jamphel as
the new Director.
Paldan Dhondup had been Abbot of the nunnery for many
years and was well-liked and respected by the nuns. He is
presently staying at one of the colleges at Sera Monastery,
and the eight nuns who were arrested are being detained
in Gutsa Detention Centre awaiting sentencing.
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About 105 Tibetans, at least ten suffering from severe
frostbite, were arrested for illegal entry in West Nepal
after fleing Tibet, a Nepali daily newspaper reported on
17 November.
The refugees entered Nepal via a little-used route from
Manang (about 360 kilometres north-west of Kathmandu)
while most Tibetan refugees use an eastward route along
a mountain pass near Mount Everest.
The refugees were later released by the Nepalese
authorities as a result of intervention by the United
Nations High Commission for Refugees and the
representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The UNHCR in Kathmandu will eventually process the
arrivals' onward travel, however it had been reported that
others had already been returned by Nepali authorities
to Tibet despite protests of Western governments and
international standards regarding asylum-seekers.
Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
states: "Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in
other countries asylum from persecution." Moreover, the
Declaration on Territorial Asylum, adopted by the General
Assembly in 1967, clearly states that no such person "shall
be subjected to measures such as rejection at the frontier
or, if he has already entered the territory in which he
seeks asylum, expulsion or compulsory return to any State
where he may be subjected to persecution" (article 3(1)).
Of serious concern is the possibility that deportees may
face severe repercussions on their return to Tibet. Torture
and ill-treatment by the Chinese authorities ae not
uncommon punishments for fleeing. Nepal is a State Party to
the Convention Against Torture and as such is legally bound
by article 3(1) which clearly states: "No State Party shall
expel, return ("refouler") or extradite a person to another
State where there are substantial grounds for believing
that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."
Under article 3(2) the Nepali authorities are required
to take into account all relevant considerations in
determining whether there are such grounds, including "the
existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern
of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights".
It has been suggested that this recent wave of refugees
fleeing to Nepal has been prompted by the latest
religious crackdown -"Spiritual Civilisation"- by Chinese
authorities.
[ top ]
A farmer from Eastern Tibet
(name withheld) arrived in India this month and described the difficulties faced
by Tibetan farmers under the discriminatory Chinese occupation.
"A good harvest brings a farmer about 10,000 gyamas
[1 gyama is approximately equal to 2 kgs]. The farmers are
required to pay a tax of about 500 gyamas to the Chinese
authorities. The farmers must also sell 300 gyamas of
wheat grains to the authorities at a very low prize.
This taxation is fixed whether the harvest is good or
bad. Even if the crops are destroyed by snow storms as in
1995, the farmers are still bound to pay their tax even
if they have to sell every thing they own."
The farmer had also witnessed the massive deforestation
taking place in his homeland; "The Chinese are cutting down
numerous trees in eastern Tibet. Every day, a minimum
of 1,000 large truck loads containing timber are carted
off to Chengdu. A larger number of woods are transported
through the rivers. Sometimes the woods rot after being
exposed to water for a long period of time."
[ top ]
This week the Tibet Information Network (TIN) reported a
Tibetan artist who specialised in painting portraits of
the Dalai Lama had been found in a state of severe shock
in a public toilet in the Lhasa Barkor area soon after
being released from a police Detention Centre.
Yungdrung, an artist aged 24 or 25 years from Nyemo, 150
km west of Lhasa, was described as "cowering with terror"
when he was discovered on 27 October 1996, apparently as a
result of having been tortured in custody. "He was unable
to recognise his friends and did not know where he lived",
a source told TIN.
Yungdrung was reportedly arrested and detained for 58
days in Gutsa Detention Centre (3 km east of Lhasa)
in connection with his portraits of the Dalai Lama,
the public display of which have been banned in Tibet
since April. Some of Yungdrung's paintings are said to
have also included the forbidden Tibetan national flag,
although this could not be confirmed. Police are said to
have raided his home and confiscated all of his paintings.
Imprisonment and torture for ideological offences by
Tibetan intellectuals is unusual, and, if confirmed,
the incident suggests a new and more aggressive policy by
the Chinese authorities towards intellectual and artistic
dissent in Tibet. Up to six other Tibetan painters are
known to have been imprisoned for political offences since
1987, but these were imprisoned for their involvement in
pro- independence demonstrations rather than for their
artwork.
[ top ]
Ngawang Sangdrol, a nineteen-year-old nun, has had her
sentence extended by nine years. With a total of 18 years
behind bars, she will be the longest imprisoned female
political prisoner in Tibet.
Ngawang Sangdrol (layname Rigchog) was born in Lhasa in
1977, and later joined Garu Nunnery (5 kilometres north
of Lhasa).
She was first arrested in 1987 when she was just ten years
old for participating in a demonstration and was detained
for 15 days.
She was next arrested in 1990, aged thirteen years, for
her participation in a demonstration led by nuns in the
Norbulingka (the former summer palace of His Holiness the
Dalai Lama) in Lhasa on 28 August 1990. While Ngawang was
considered too young to be tried, she was nevertheless
detained for nine months and subjected to ill-treatment.
Upon release Ngawang was forbidden from rejoining her
nunnery as a result of her status as a former political
prisoner. On 12 June 1991 her father, Namgyal Tashi,
was arrested for participating in demonstrations and
sentenced to eight years in Drapchi Prison where he remains
today. The death of Gyaltsen's mother, Jampa Choezom,
followed just days after her father was imprisoned.
Gyaltsen's brother, a monk named Tenzin Sherap, also
received a 12 month prison sentence at one time for
political reasons. After his release he was forbidden to
rejoin his monastery.
On 17 June 1992 Gyaltsen was again arrested for attempting
to stage a pro-independence demonstration in Lhasa
along with other Garu nuns and some monks from Ganden
monastery. Despite her youth, she was sentenced to three
years imprisonment "for incitement to subversive and
separatist activities".
Whilst in Lhasa's Drapchi Prison, Ngawang and thirteen
other nuns made a recording on a tape-recorder smuggled
into the prison and which was later secretly circulated
in Tibet. Ngawang, along with each of the other nuns,
announced their names and then dedicated a song or poem to
friends and supporters. The words spoke of the heartfelt
gratitude of the women for those who had not forgotten them
in jail, of the beatings and brutal treatment suffered, and
of their unfaltering commitment to Tibetan independence.
The fourteen nuns were tried on 8 October 1993, and Ngawang
had her sentence extended for six years for "spreading
counter-revolutionary propaganda". Another of the nuns
was Phuntsog Nyidron whose extension of eight years brought
her total sentence to 17, and who in December 1995 received
the Reebok Human Rights Award.
On 30 November 1995, the United Nations Working Group
on Arbitrary Detentions ruled that the continuing
detention of Ngawang Sangdrol was arbitrary because she
had been punished for exercising her right to freedom of
opinion. The group asked the PRC to remedy the situation
so as to conform with the provisions and principles
incorporated in the Universal Declaration if Human Rights.
Gyaltsen Pelsang, the youngest political prisoner in Tibet
when she was detained at age 12 in 1993, was another of
the nuns who recorded her songs of faith and perseverance.
Gyaltsen was released on 9 February 1996 and escaped from
Tibet just in the last weeks. She last saw Ngawang four
months ago, describing her as white and emaciated. Gyaltsen
was also able to confirm that Ngawang had been re-sentenced
and describe the incidents leading to her trial.
Ngawang Sangdrol was amongst a number of female prisoners
who refused to tidy their beds or clean their cells,
apparently as a protest against the Panchen Lama
re-education campaign being conducted in the prison,
and it was also reported that Ngawang on one occasion did
not stand up when a Chinese official entered the room. As
punishment for failing to clean their ceels, the women were
sent to stand in the rain at which time Ngawang shouted
"Free Tibet". Soldiers were immediately called and Ngawang
and three other nuns were badly beaten.
These events reportedly took place in March of this year,
and Gyaltsen said that since that time Ngawang Sangdrol
has been singled out for severe punishment. She said
Ngawang's condition had deteriorated due to severe torture
and her right leg had been seriously injured. Ngawang was
reportedly sentenced on 31 July 1996 and in the months
preceding the trial was fed only one plain dumpling or bun
per day and was manifesting signs of severe malnourishment.
Reports in August said that Ngawang was being held in a
dark, windowless confinement cell at Drapchi Prison and
receiving small amounts of food only twice daily.
Ngawang is due to be released in 2010 at the age of 33. Her
physical condition at present is unknown. Ngawang has
received each of her sentences simply for the peaceful
exercise of her right to freedom of conscience and
expression.
[ top ]
According to a reliable source,
Sholpa Dawa,
who was arrested for the third time in August 1995,
has finally received a sentence of 9 years.
Sholpa Dawa, a tailor in Lhasa, was arrested for the first time on
29 September 1981 and sentenced to two years imprisonment
for allegedly distributing pamphlets on the independence
of Tibet. He was deprived of his political rights for
one year. On 8 November 1985 he was arrested for the
second time for distributing pamphlets denouncing the
deterioration in the living conditions of the Tibetans
and the anti-secular foreign (Chinese) invasion of Tibet.
Topgyal, also a private tailor from Lhasa, was arrested in
November 1995 for political reasons based on "seperatist"
activities. Topgyal is in his mid-50's and was sentenced
to 6 years imprisonment.
Both Sholpa Dawa and Topgyal are being detained at Seitru
Detention Centre but it is expected that they will soon
be transferred to the notorious Drapchi Prison in Lhasa
as is the normal procedure.
[ top ]
Following a week-long extraordinary meeting of the leaders
of the Chinese Communist Party in Lhasa, the Tibet Central
Committee launched a "Last Battle" against the Dalai Lama,
aimed at eradicating any vestiges of the exiled spiritual
leader's influence from all levels of society. Their report
stipulated that the anti-splittist campaign, launched in
the region's monasteries this year, must be broadened.
The Committee signalled the adoption of "administrative
measures to resolve the uncontrolled proliferation of
religious festivals and shrines". The report stressed the
strengthening of controls over daily life in Tibet which
must also involve the close supervision of literature and
the arts to ensure that they fulfil the socialist role of
"serving the people" rather than propagating "spiritual
garbage".
The Committee vowed to deal severely with "any monks or
nuns whose religious activities or superstitions affect
industrial production or daily life" and, identifying
Tibetan youth as the key battleground, called on every
school in the region "to push socialist teachings and
focus on political and ideological education".
In response to news of China's latest campaign against
Buddhist Tibet, Mr Tempa Tsering, Secretary of the
Department of Information and International Relations
of the Central Tibetan Administration in India said,
"China is playing with fire".
"With the excuse of uprooting so-called splittism,
Beijing's term for Tibetan nationalism, China is forcing
the closure of many monasteries and restricting religious
practice, thus striking at the root of the cultural and
spiritual identity of the Tibetan people", the senior
official said, warning, "China's last battle against
Buddhist Tibet and the Dalai Lama bodes ill for both Tibet
and China".
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