15 March 1997
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Free Tibet leaflet leads to Chamdo monk's death
[ read ]
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Imprisoned nun: I have no fear of dying in prison
[ read ]
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Harsh new Chinese criminal laws
[ read ]
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Profile:
Doctor serving 13 years in prison
[ read ]
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Population transfer threat
[ read ]
In May 1996 a Chinese "work team" raided the Chamdo
monastery for photographs of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama.
Finding pro-independence leaflets, three monks
connected to this were arrested. One of those monks is
now dead, following severe beatings and torture by prison
authorities. More than five hundred monks have now been
expelled from the monastery.
On 30 May 1996, Chinese officials raided the room of every
monk in Chamdo Monastery and confiscated all pictures of
His Holiness the Dalai Lama. While searching the rooms
they also discovered some political leaflets calling for
a Free Tibet. Three monks were subsequently arrested
in connection with the leaflets and taken to Chamdo
Prison. The monks were: Soepa, a 24 year old from Tsawa
Bhema; Jamyang Thinley, aged 25 from Tsawa Bhenda and
Gonpo Sonam, a 30 year old from Tsawa.
After four months in Chamdo prison, Jamyang Thinley was
released on 13 September 1996 on medical grounds. As a
result of severe torture and beatings by prison officials,
Jamyang's state became critical. The possible consequences
now represented a serious threat to the prison authorities
and Jamyang was quickly released. Only five days after
his release, Jamyang Thinley succumbed to death.
Jamyang Khedrup saw the body of Jamyang Thinley
prior to cremation. He reported, "His entire back and
neck had blisters as a result of being subjected to
electrocution. He had marks of having been beaten so
badly that it was black and blue all over. There were
also patches of clotted blood on certain areas of his
stomach". The other two monks, Soepa and Gonpo Sonam,
currently remain in prison.
This was reported to TCHRD by Jamyang Khedrup, a 24
year old monk from Chamdo Monastery in Chamdo County in
north-eastern Tibet. He originates from the village of
Nyephu under the township of Nyeshe, Chamdo. He joined
the monastery when he was just 14 years old. For eight
of his ten years in the monastery, he held various
responsibilities with regard to the monastery's
administration.
Jamyang tried on two occasions to escape to India. On
the first attempt he was caught in Lhatse, close to the
southern city of Shigatse. He was detained for eight
days within which time all of his belongings, even his
scriptures, were confiscated. He was then sent back
to Lhasa.
Jamyang's second attempt to flee was successful. He left
Lhasa on 5 December 1997 and finally reached India 17 days
later on February 18 1997.
A few months before Jamyang Khedrup left his monastery,
he was able to sneak a look at the registration book
of the monastery. He discovered that, while the initial
record showed 1500 monks in Chamdo Monastery, only 961
monks remained registered at the monastery.
Jamyang says this substantial reduction in monks was a
direct result of the "Strike Hard" campaign launched by
Chinese "work team" in the monastery on 30 May 1996. The
WT consisted of officials from 18 different departments
including the Public Security Bureau (PSB), the Religious
Bureau and the Monastery Management Committee.
In June 1996, the WT raided every house in the locality
for photographs of His Holiness the Dalai lama and the
Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima. The only photographs
which were not confiscated were those of the Dalai Lama
taken together with Mao Tse Tung.
On 30 August 1996, the work teams conducted the political
re-education campaign based on the five principles:
opposition to separatism; unity of Tibet and China;
recognition of the Chinese appointed Panchen Lama; denial
that Tibet was or should be independent and agreement that
the Dalai Lama is destroying the unity of the people. The
monks were ordered to accept the five principles and oppose
the Dalai Clique who, they were told, had gone beyond
his realm of spiritual authority and was now indulging in
political "splittist" activities. The monks expressed their
opposition by coughing and sleeping during the sessions of
"re-education" and dismissively shaking their robes.
In a new attempt to "re-educate", each monk was taken
into a single room and was interrogated on the five
principles. The monks commonly responded that "love for
country and religion is possible", as decreed in the
principles, but that "there is absence of freedom of
religion". Moreover, the monks said, "We do not know
the concept of splittist and so there is no reason
why we should oppose it". The monks who gave these
"unsatisfactory" answers were ordered to leave the
monastery. Jamyang Khedrup believes that the "Strike Hard"
campaign will continue to be conducted with the same
impetus by Chinese officials.
[ top ]
Ngawang Rigdrol is a 24-year-old nun.
She is currently serving seven years' imprisonment for taking part in
a peaceful demonstration and today is almost completely blind.
In mid-June 1992, she carried the forbidden Tibetan
national flag during a pro-independence protest around
the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.
For the first one month and twelve days following her
arrest, Ngawang was kept in solitary confinement in Gutsa
Detention Centre. During interrogation sessions, she was
reportedly stripped naked and tied to a chair. After six
months in Gutsa, Ngawang was sentenced to seven years
imprisonment and subsequently transferred to Drapchi
Prison.
In April 1995, reports indicated that Ngawang Rigdrol's
eyesight had deteriorated and that she could not see
well. The reasons for this are unknown, although she
may have suffered temporary damage from the solitary
confinement in a darkened room in 1992.
Ngawang Rigdrol's arrest coincided with a crackdown on Garu
nunnery, where she lived. This nunnery, 5 kilometers north
of Lhasa, has been a center of pro-independence activity
since 19 December 1987. On that day, 20 Garu nuns led the
first of nearly 50 protests that have been staged by nuns
in Lhasa over the past five years. Sources report that over
half of the known protests in Lhasa since 1987 have been
led by Buddhist nuns. A political "re-education" 'work
team' was reported to have been installed in the nunnery
in 1993 to begin intensive re-education. The re-education
work team is reportedly attempting to coerce the nuns into
accepting a new code of discipline which includes the
banning of any political or dissident activity. Ngawang
is the sixth child in her family of two boys and nine
girls. Her father is 71 years old and her mother passed
away in 1994. Ngawang was allowed visitors only on the 15th
day of each month. When her mother became critically ill,
the family's request for visitation rights was denied. Thus
Ngawang was not able to see her mother prior to her death.
Ngawang has kept alive her courage and determination
despite having been subjected to repeated inhumane
treatment while in prison. Now 24 years old, she is
almost blind. The little vision she retains are totally
blurred and objects appear obscure. She has suffered
regular beatings in prison and her right arm has been so
badly damaged that she is not even able to lift a mug.
Severe nerve impairment has resulted in the uncontrollable
shaking of her hands.
Prison authorities have told her friends and relatives to
advise Ngawang to reform her behaviour. They report that
she exhibits a total disgust and disregard for prison
regulations. When relatives, concerned for Ngawang's
health, plead with her to keep a low profile, her common
response is, "I have no fear of dying in prison. I will
sacrifice my life for my country. May His Holiness the
Dalai Lama live long".
[ top ]
China announced plans on 6 March to introduce harsh new
provisions to its Criminal Law targeted at "terrorist"
control in Tibet and Xinjiang.
Stressing the need "to deal telling blows at such offences",
the vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC),
Mr. Wang Hanbin, announced draft provisions
that would add up to 10 years in prison to any sentence
for homicide, explosion or kidnapping carried out as a
terrorist act.
Of particular relevance to independence activists in Tibet
and Xinjiang is the legal amendment whereby "offenders
taking advantage of national or religious problems to
instigate the splitting of the State or undermine the unity
of the State" will be charged under severe provisions for
"endangering State Security". Previously such activities
were labelled as "counter-revolutionary" offences, a
charge which carried heavy sentences and has been used
extensively against Tibetans demonstrating any form of
support for independence or for the Dalai Lama.
The amendments, due to be passed mid-March at the
closing session of the NPC, are part of a number of
proposed changes to the Chinese Criminal Law purporting
to strengthen the rights of the accused. However, the
new reworded provisions are reportedly even wider than
the originals and will still enable convictions for the
exercise of the right to freedom of expression. Instead
of 15 charges of counter-revolution, some 11 charges of
endangering state security will be used, with additional
clauses of "undermining national unification" and of
accepting funds from foreign organisations. A further
addition is the charge of "inciting ethnic hatred" which
will carry a three-year prison sentence.
[ top ]
Jampa Ngodrup,
a doctor from Lhasa, is currently serving
a 13-year prison sentence in Drapchi Prison in Tibet.
He was charged as an "agent" for his efforts to record
the names of those arrested or injured during two
pro-independence demonstrations which took place in Lhasa in 1988.
Ill-treatment in prison has meant that Jampa is no
longer able to walk without the aid of crutches.
Jampa Ngodrup is a 45-year-old man from Lhasa.
Until 1959 he was a monk, and then practised as a doctor of
Tibetan medicine at the Barkhor Nangrong East Clinic
(Chengguan Qu Barkhor Clinic). He is described as being
very straightforward.
Jampa's father, Rinzin Lhundrup Paljor, was also a doctor
who owned a private medical school and therefore it was
not necessary for Jampa to undergo any formal education
in medicine. He started studying medicine at home when he
was just 9 years old, and around the age of 16 he started
to practise.
The family has a long standing legacy of medical practice
and Jampa Ngodrup represents the sixth generation. His
father and mother, Tsering Palmo, are no longer living. He
has one older brother, one older sister and one younger
brother. All are medical practitioners.
Jampa was first detained, for unknown reasons, on October
27, 1987. He was again detained on 20 October 1989, and
this time was held without charge for ten months until 13
August 1990 when he was officially charged.
Tried in Lhasa Municipal People's Court on 24 December
1990, he was sentenced the following day. The decision
characterised the verdict as necessary "in order to
strengthen the unity of the motherland ... and to stabilise
the democratic rights of the people".
Jampa Ngodrup, who allegedly "confessed", was described
as "harbouring counter-revolutionary aims". According
to Chinese authorities, Jampa had committed two crimes.
The first was when he gave Lhamo Yangchen, a Tibetan
woman, the names of some of those arrested during the
Lhasa demonstration on 5 March 1988.
In December 1988, Lhamo Yangchen gave Jampa a list of
arrested from the 10 December 1988 demonstration. Jampa
made a copy of the list. Lhamo Yangchen was considered
a "foreign resident" by the Chinese and the list was
considered "state secrets". As a result Jampa Ngodrup
was charged under Article 97(1) of the Chinese Criminal
Code. This article deals generally with acts of espionage
and section 1 deals specifically with "stealing or secretly
gathering or providing intelligence for the enemy".
Jampa's sentence paper was issued on 24 October 1990. It
stated that he would be held imprisoned for 13 years and
deprived of four years political rights. His prison term
was to run from 20 October 1989 to 19 October 2002 and
thus included the time since he was initially detained.
Jampa Ngodrup is presently held in the fifth Division of
Drapchi Prison. In May 1993 he was reportedly severely
ill from prison maltreatment. He is suffering extreme
fluid retention such that his entire body is bloated,
he is unable to walk without the help of crutches and it
is suspected that he may have tuberculosis.
[ top ]
The Chinese Government's policy of transferring Chinese
settlers into Tibet represents an immediate threat to the
existence of the Tibetan people.
In contravention of humanitarian law which stipulates
that "an occupying power shall not deport or transfer
parts of its own civilian population into the territory
it occupies" (article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949),
there are today an estimated 7.5 million non-Tibetans
in Tibet. The 6 million Tibetans are being increasingly
marginalised in spheres of cultural, economic and political life.
China makes no secret of its policy of transferring
a large number of Chinese "experts" and cadres into Tibet,
offering substantial salary, housing and holiday incentives
to Chinese settlers. The growing discrimination faced
by Tibetans in areas of employment, housing, education,
and health as a result of the Chinese influx now faces a new boost.
In 1992 China approved plans to dam the Yangtze River
and create the world's biggest hydro-electric power
project. According to Mr. Qi Lin, head of the resettlement
for the project, in an announcement on 5 March 1997, the
project will require the displacement of approximately
1.2 million people to make way for the reservoir, of which
some 60,000 have already been moved. Mr. Lin added that
authorities in the two provinces affected - Sichuan and
Hubei - were encouraging people to move to under-populated
regions, which are generally impoverished areas such as
Xinjiang, Tibet and Gansu.
The entire project is due to be fully completed by 2009,
and the problems of forced migration and ecological changes
have been effectively swept aside by the promise of vast
economic returns. "The advantages of building this dam far
outweigh the disadvantages", said Mr. Lu Youmei, managing
director of the Three Gorges Project Development Corp.
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