15 August 1997
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Tibetan executed on false charges
[ read ]
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83 Tibetan women sterilised
[ read ]
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Dead child delivered after forced contraceptive
[ read ]
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Hermits forced to give up retreat
[ read ]
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Profile:
Six years for prisoners list
[ read ]
A recent arrival from Tibet has reported the execution
of 30 year-old
Gonpo Tsering
who was said by Chinese
authorities to have killed a Chinese official during
a dispute over the collection of taxes. Gonpo Tsering
is from Kamoche village of Bayer Shang in Choni county,
now incorporated into the Chinese province of Gansu. One
year after he was executed, the same Chinese official who
Gonpo had been accused of murdering was seen alive in a
town nearby.
The source reported that the Chinese authorities usually
came to collect taxes in August or September of every
year. In August 1995, three tax officials went to the
house of Gonpo Tsering for the collection of tax. Gonpo's
family of eight members was required to pay 50 gyama
(approximately 25 kg) of barley per individual as a tax
to the Chinese government.
The family paid the total tax of 400 gyama (200 kg) without
dispute. Later that same month the Chinese officials
returned to Gonpo's home demanding more taxes and forcibly
took half a sack of barley weighing about 50 kg.
In the same month, twelve Public Security Bureau officials
stormed into the house for the third time. The officials
reportedly seated themselves comfortably and demanded
more barley tax. Says the source, "I don't know why that
family was targeted for this harsh tax treatment. I don't
believe it was uniform, but some other families were also
targeted with no apparent reason."
He says that the family pleaded with the officials, saying
that they had already paid two lots of tax and that they no
longer had enough barley for their own consumption. Despite
their appeals, the Chinese officials continued to demand
payment and, in the confrontation that ensued, one of the
officials hit Gonpo Tsering over the head with a stick.
In retaliation, Gonpo took a knife from the kitchen and
slashed the head of an official. The wound was bleeding
heavily and Gonpo was arrested on the spot and taken to
an unknown destiny.
Two days after Gonpo was taken away, the family was
notified to collect his dead body for cremation. His
parents were reportedly ordered to bear not only the
cremation costs but an additional 200 yuan to cover the
cost of the bullets used to shoot their son. "It was known
in that area that the family of someone executed by the
Chinese authorities must bear the execution cost," said
the source.
The Chinese officials told Gonpo's family that the
wounded official had died two days later and that Gonpo
was therefore executed for murder. Says the source, "One
year later, that official who had been declared dead due
to Gonpo's actions was seen cycling around the town closest
to Kamoche village."
[ top ]
Since the start of this year, 83 Tibetan women have been
sterilised "through various means" in Chukok Sonak town,
Rebkong district, under Qinghai province where Chinese
authorities have launched a strict birth control policy.
In 1996 nine Tibetan women were sterilised and 32 were
required to use contraceptives.
These figures were provided by the the Qinghai Tibetan
daily newspaper published on 12 March 1997. In conjunction
with extensive propaganda, six general meetings were held
in Rebkong district calling on officials in the area to
implement the birth control policy.
On 12 February 1997, the same newspaper reported that a
meeting on birth control in the province had been called
at the start of 1997 in Siling (Ch: Xining), Qinghai's
capital. During the meeting the birth control policy
for the 1996 year was analysed and plans for 1997 were
concluded.
The meeting also fixed strict regulations to control the
birth rate and the population of the province. Economic
sanctions and prizes were to be given to officials and
couples who followed the regulations and those who refused
to follow the birth control policy would be punished. The
head of Siling city and the Tibet Autonomous Prefectures
of Tso-lho, Ma-lho, Tso-Jang, Tso-nub and Tso-shar were
each given incentives to encourage the implementation of
the birth control policy in their repective regions.
[ top ]
"According to what I have seen, the Chinese authorities
have been implementing the birth control policy in my area
since February or March of 1997. I saw a woman who lives
next door to my uncle be inserted with a contraceptive
and then four months later she brought home a dead baby,"
says 13 year old Jampa Tenzin who recently fled Tibet. He
reports on the systematic insertion of a long-term
contraceptive in all Tibetan women in his area above 16
years of age. From Jampa's description the device seems
to work, like the contraceptive "Norplant", through the
gradual release of hormones.
Jampa
lived with his uncle in Doba village, Jamdoon Shang,
in Drayab county in the "Tibetan Autonomous Region". He
says, "There are about 100 to 150 households in my
village. Jamdoon is the closest town to our village; it
is bigger and better facilitated than the villages. The
Chinese authorities have established a hospital and an
animal husbandry there. As far as I know, there are ten
villages surrounding Jamdoon shang (town): Chon-go, Dzo-ku,
Go-tu, Re-li, Da-do, Lho-lung, Lha-sung, Tse-sung, La-Phag
Gon, and Yong-po.
Immediately upon arriving in my village the Chinese
officials called a meeting of the village elders and
ordered that all girls above 16 years of age must undergo
birth control operations. Tibetan women living in all the
nearby villages were ordered by the Chinese authorities
to come to the Jamdoon hospital to be forcibly inserted
with a contraceptive.
I have actually seen this contraceptive being inserted. A
small cut is made at the top of the woman's arm , a small
piece of rubber tube is inserted and then it is stitched
back up. They say that the insertion of this contraceptive
works for five to ten years to prevent a baby forming in the womb.
I heard of three cases of women from my village who, after
being forced to undergo such an operation while they were
pregnant, gave birth to dead babies. Many Tibetan women
must undergo this operation even in the later stages of pregnancy.
I personally saw one of these three cases. The woman was
the daughter-in-law of the Paikok family who lived next
to my uncle's house. She was almost five months pregnant
when the officials operated on her, inserting this type
of contraceptive into her arm.
Later she went to Chamdo for the delivery of her baby
but the baby was dead when it was born. I saw the
dead child when the mother brought it home. The Chinese
officials later threatened Tibetans in the area with dire
consequences if anyone dared speak of the delivery of the
dead child.
If the Tibetan women don't turn up for the operation,
they are fined between 1500 to 3000 yuan. (Between US$
200 to $400). This amount is a lot for the poor Tibetan
people and so finally, even though they don't want to,
they must undergo this operation. Now every Tibetan woman
in the villages above 16 years has been operated on."
Jampa Tenzin arrived in India in August 1997. He was
sent into exile by his family in order to receive
education. Although he attended a school in Chamdo for
three years, he was forced to leave because he was not
able to follow the lessons. The teachers at the school
were reportedly sent by Chinese authorities from Amdo and
U-Tsang and, as Jampa and others in his area spoke a Kham
dialect, he says that he could not understand them. Leaving
his uncle and parents behind, he escaped Tibet together
with his twelve-year-old cousin.
[ top ]
Hermits in Tibet are being forced to give up their
religious retreats as they fall subject to Chinese
"Re-education" sessions and "government taxes".
Kunchok Chodup,
42 years old, comes from Sangshu village in Gabde county
under Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (incorporated
into Qinghai province). He joined Lungkya monastery at
the age of 22 and studied there for the next four years.
At the time there were 300 monks in total in the monastery.
As the monastery was not within Kunchok's home locality, it
was mandatory to seek special permission from the Chinese
authorities to stay in the monastery. Kunchok reports;
"It is a well-known fact that this permission is never
granted. Therefore I had to leave the monastery.
After that I travelled to central Tibet where, from
1995, I spent two years in retreat at the Samye Chenpo
hermitage. Samye Chenpo is located in the Samye township
in Tranag county under Lhoka county. I left the hermitage
on 23 March 1997.
During the years I was in the hermitage there were 200
hermits in total, comprising both monks and nuns. The
Samye hermitage is part of the larger eighth century Samye
monastery. Local Tibetans are the source of our livelihood;
they provide us with food during our stay in the retreat.
We heard people saying that a Chinese work team would be
arriving at Samye monastery on 8 April 1997 to conduct
'Re-education' and, soon after, many hermits voluntarily
left the monastery, most of them on the pretext of going
for a pilgrimage within Tibet. There are now only 30 to
40 hermits left in the hermitage; the rest have left,
either with or without a pass.
It is a rule that a hermit must be granted a pass from
the county authorities to go into the retreat. A sum of 30
yuan is charged for the pass from each hermit and 3 yuan is
subsequently charged every month from the senior hermits
and between 6 to 20 yuan from a newly joined hermit as a
'government tax'.
As the hermits' only source of income is donations received from pilgrims and local inhabitants, the required tax must be paid from this. Tibetans normally come for pilgrimage at the hermitage from the 3rd to the 10th day of the first month of the Tibetan lunar calendar and from the 6th day to the 15th day in the holy month of Saka Dawa - the fourth month of theR
Tibetan calendar.
During that time all the hermits congregate to receive alms
in the form of money, butter and barley flour in order
to survive for the rest of the year in the retreat. The
Chinese-imposed taxes mean that the hermits are no longer
able to survive in this way."
[ top ]
In 1993,
Topgyal,
together with
Sholpa Dawa,
decided to do something concrete to make the world aware
of the situation in Tibet. They began the task of putting
together a list of current and former political prisoners
in the Lhasa area. It was the hope of both Tibetans,
both elderly men, that they would be able to somehow get
the document out of Tibet. Today both men are serving
lengthy prison sentences in an unknown Chinese prison
somewhere in Tibet.
Topgyal
(also known as Tsempo Topgyal - "tsempo" meaning
"tailor"), a 58 year old private tailor in Lhasa (other
sources describe him as a businessman) was originally
from Tsang-do township in Lhundrub County in the "Tibet Autonomous Region".
In 1993 Topgyal and Sholpa Dawa (or Shol Dawa - profiled in
Human Rights Update of
November 15, 1996),
a 60-year-old Lhasa tailor,
reportedly obtained a list of prisoners' names
from two former political prisoners, Dondrup Dorje and
Ratoe Dawa. They were said to have been compiling a list
of current and released political prisoners to send abroad.
Their activities were not discovered until more than
two years later. In August 1995, just before the 30th
anniversary of the founding of the "Tibet Autonomous
Region", a group of former activists, including Sholpa
Dawa and Dondrup Dorje, were reportedly detained by
Chinese authorities who suspected they may disrupt the
celebrations. Topgyal's involvement in the prisoner list
was believed to have been uncovered during interrogations
of the group.
Topgyal and Sholpa Dawa were tried by the Lhasa
Intermediate people's Court on 8 August 1996. The charge
of "counter-revolution", commonly used against Tibetan
independence activists in the past, is to be phased
out under new criminal legislation to go into effect on
1 October 1997 in China. Topgyal and Sholpa Dawa were
therefore charged with the crime of "endangering state
security".
In the court's concluding decision, issued as "Lhasa
Criminal Court Trial Document No. 48 (1996)", the three
judges ruled; "This court holds that the defendants Xuedawa
[Sholpa Dawa] and Duobujie [Topgyal], with the objective
of overturning the socialist system and the peoples'
democratic dictatorship, actively accepted a mission
specially appointed by foreign enemies, actively gathering
various kinds of intelligence about this country within our
borders and engaging in criminal activities that endangered
state security".
Topgyal was also found to have written three "reactionary
letters" which he had passed on to Sholpa Dawa. The letters
"together with the list of prisoners' names, were stamped
with an ox-head stamp of their own manufacture, and were
the to be sent abroad as a report to the Dalai Clique",
the court statement said.
Topgyal was sentenced to six years imprisonment while
Sholpa Dawa received a nine year sentence. Their current
whereabouts are unknown.
Topgyal is due for release in 2002 at the age of 63.
Express your concern over his arbitrary detention
resulting from his political convictions by writing a
letter to China's Premier, Mr Li Peng, requesting his
immediate and unconditional release. Send your letter to
TCHRD
for forwarding.
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