15 November 1997
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Monk suffers in six different prisons
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Memories of prison labour sends chills
[ read ]
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More work team imprisonments
[ read ]
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Profile:
Sentenced to 17 years for "espionage"
[ read ]
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New arrests of monks for posters
[ read ]
The nightmare began for twenty year-old monk
Yeshi Samien
when work teams entered his monastery and ordered him to
renounce everything he believed in. When Yeshi refused,
threats were made. When he attempted to escape, Yeshi
was imprisoned and tortured in six different prisons and
detention centres, his suffering made public as a warning
to others. He finally managed to flee to India in October 1997.
Yeshi Samten is from Yathak monastery in Tongpa township,
Zokhang county, under the Chamdo Region of the ģTibet
Autonomous Regionī. In 1996, he says, there were 60 monks
in his monastery. Since then, 32 monks have been expelled
by the five-member work team that arrived in March1996.
"The monks were called into the monastery's prayer hall
by the work team," says Yeshi, "and then they locked us
in. For three days we stayed locked inside and they gave us
no food. All work-team began tearing down all the idols and
the religious artifacts placed on alters. They threw these
sacred objects and the religious texts on the ground in
front of us, saying 'How can these help you? These idols
are just stone and mud'.
"Later, all the monks were called in to a separate room
for interrogation in groups of three at a time. The
interrogation sessions lasted from 9 a.m. to 12 a.m. and
from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. We were ordered to denounce the
Dalai Lama and to pledge not to go to India, not to speak
in favour of Tibetan independence and not to carry out
political activities.
"Thirteen monks were later detained for 13 days in the
county prison for refusing to agree with the work team.
I also refused to renounce my beliefs and two friends
of mine did the same. As a result, our parents were
called in to the monastery and told to make us reform our
behaviour. When we stated that we were adults and could not
be made to change our stand, the work-team ordered us to go
home and stay with our family for one week. They told us,
'make the most of that time to wear your best robes and
eat the best food since you now have only one way to go.'
"They threatened our parents and family members if we
tried to escape but we were so fearful of our lives that
we fled. On the way we were caught at Pashoe county by
about 40 army officers and detained in Pashoe military
prison for one day. Throughout that day I was hit with
rifle butts while at the same time I was being kicked and
beaten with wooden rods. My hand was badly hurt.
"Next we were handed over to Zokhang county, where I was
beaten by ten police personnel before a public gathering
in order to warn the people of the dire consequences of
disobeying the Chinese. The three of us were imprisoned
on March 20,1996, in three separate cells. For about a
month we were beaten with electric batons every morning
and every evening for an hour each time. We were given
very little food. At noon we were beaten with rifle butts,
sticks and anything the guards could get hold of.
"During the four months I was detained in Zokhang county
prison, my parents made persistent appeals promising
that I would never again be a monk and would do farming
work. After I was released on 20 June 1996.
"After my release, I travelled directly to Lhasa and
reached there in 20 days. Ten days later I left for
India. I was caught by the army police at the border area
of Gyala along with a group of 13 people. We were then
transferred to army personnel in Kyi-drong county who put
us in the military prison.
"During the first seven days we were not provided with
any food. The guards interrogated us, 'Why were you going
to India?', 'Who invited you to go to India?', while they
beat us with sticks. There was a woman in our group with
a tiny 4 month-old baby. The baby was unwell and so the
army personnel finally allowed the mother to go out to
beg for food in the nearby town.
"We were held in the military prison for one month and
11 days before being transferred to Lhatse county. There
again we were detained for three days in the Lhatse police
prison while we were photographed and every detail about
each of us was recorded.
"Next we were transferred to Shigatse county prison
and kept for seven days. Sixty to sixty-five of us
were thrown, together into the truck like animals.
The authorities announced the name of each detainee over
public loudspeakers and we were thrown one by one into
the truck. They also broadcast warnings to the public of
the, consequences of attempting to flee the country as we
had done.
"We were then driven to Gutsa Detention Centre in Lhasa
and seven more days of detention followed. This time at
least we were provided with tea in the morning and tea with
barley flour in the evening. Once again our details were
recorded and we were warned that 'there is only one way
to go', in case anyone dared to flee. Finally, after the
seven days, we were released in October or November 1996.
"After some time in Lhasa I returned to Zokhang county for
Losar (Tibetan New Year) in February 1997. My two friends
stayed in Lhasa, both hospitalised for back injuries caused
from torture by Chinese officials. When he heard that I
was back in Zokhang, the administrative head of the county
called the Chinese police to have me arrested. Terrified,
I left again for Lhasa after just three days in Zokhang
and from there, finally, I made it to India.
"A three-person work team is still carrying out the
re-education session in my monastery. The monastery is
also without its spiritual head because the reincarnate
Iama, although enthroned last year in the monastery, is
not allowed to remain in the monastery for his religious
education."
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"The worst part of my two years in prison were the times
when I had to go out for labour work during summer. While
I was in prison there were two construction sites on
which we had to work, one was a four-storey building and
another was a factory for Tibetan medicine. I shudder now
when I think of the workload we were subjected to. It still
sends chills down my spine. Each day a group of seven men
were erected to fill up 14 huge tractors full of gravel
stone for construction. I worked half conscious like a
zombie. The entire day would pass by and I would have
no knowledge of it except that my body was in continuous
motion. In the night when I returned to my cell, the pain
would run all over my body. My muscles and joints would
be so completely exhausted that even closing my fat would
send a sharp pain to the nerves."
Luesang
is an 18-year-old monk from Dechen Sangak Monastery in
Dechen township, Taktse Region. He wasn"t able to attend
school and joined the monastery when he was 12 years old.
On 4 December 1994, when he was 16 years old, Luesang and
three other monks made wall posters with Tibetan freedom
messages and a handmade Tibetan Paper flag and stuck them
on walls around Takste County. The other three monks
involved were 16-year-old Gelek, 18-year-old Lobsang
Jampa and 21-year-old Wangdue.
The next day, ten monks from the same monastery staged a
demonstration around Lhasa central temple. Within a few
minutes, the Barkhor police officials arrested all except
two who escaped. Those caught were:
Gelek (16),
Wangdue (21),
Lobsang Gedun (25),
Migmar Wangdue (23),
Norbu (22),
Gyatso (24),
Yoten (20),
and
Migmar.
Lobsang Gedun and Migmar Wangdue were thought to have
spearheaded the demonstration and received the highest
sentences of six years each. Norbu, Wangdue and Gyatso
each received four years, Gelek three tears and Yonten
two years. Migmar's term is unknown. Except for Yonten,
who was released, all are serving their prison terms
in Drapchi.
On the morning of December 9th, 1994, 20 policemen came
to the monastery and called the names of Lobsang Jinpa
and Luesang. Luesang was taken to Taktse county prison
for four months.
Luesang says that it was during the just three months in
prison, awaiting the finalisation of his prison term,
that he underwent the worst kind of beatings. He also
remembers that the security guards were more expert than
the policemen in their beatings and would hit them on the
face and everywhere on the body.
Lobsang Jampa was kept for two months in Taktse county
prison and then transferred to Gutsa Detention Centre. In
the second week of March 1995, Luesang was transferred to
Trisam Prison. The prisoners there worked from 10 o"clock
in the morning until 8 o"clock at night outside the prison
campus, mostly as labourers in Chinese factories.
Of the 13 monks from Luesang's monastery, only three
have released, including Luesang himself in December
1996. Luesang also reports the arrest of another monk
called Pasang who is from Dechen township. Pasang held a
short solo demonstration in his township and was arrested
on 8 December, 1996. He was sentenced to 5 years in
Drapchi Prison.
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Dorji Rapten
is a 20-year-old monk. He reports since Chinese work-team
entered his monastery, one monk has disappeared believed
executed or imprisoned - and Dorji has just been released
from prison. Dorji Rapten is from Dhayap Magon monastery
in Pare township in Dhayap county, Kham (eastern Tibet).
He was 11 years old when he joined the monastery.
Dorji reports that some time in 1993, two posters were stuck in
Dhayap county. Soon afterwards, a work team of 120 men
arrived at Bhugon monastery. Meetings were held and the
rooms of the monks were ransacked. In the room of one monk
named
Tse-Tse,
the work team found, among some scriptures,
a Tibet flag and some documents.
The work-team linked Tse-Tse to the wall posters and he
was immediately taken away. He was kept in Dhayap prison
for 15 days before his trial and it was during that tune
that Dorjee met him.
After sentencing, Tse-Tse was reportedly taken to Powo
Tramo labour camp. There are rumours that Tse Tse has
been executed while other sources say that he has been
sentenced to life imprisonment. Tse Tse has not been seen
since his sentencing.
In 1994, the Chinese work-team came to Dorjee's
monastery. Each day the three to five member work-team
conducted re-education sessions. They quickly expelled
all 30 monks who had joined the monastery after 1990.
In 1995, Dorjee took eight months leave and went with
three other monks to Lhasa to acquire the vows for Getsul
(to become a fully ordained monk). While travelling back
to the monastery, Doti stopped in Dhayap county, taking
shelter with a family. Dorji was carrying a small bag with
him and, when the father asked him what he was carrying,
Dorjee showed him the scriptures and photographs of the
Dalai Lama. The father called the rest of the family
and they held the photographs high on their head in
respect. Dorjee returned to his monastery the next day.
Fifteen days after this incident, four men arrived
in the village close to Dorji's monastery. They said
they were work-team members, but Dorji said they looked
more like policemen. The men started asking Dorji about
where he had come from recently and what he had in his
possession. Dorji answered truthfully, admitting to
possessing the photographs.
He was told to bring the photos to the men and then more
questions followed, accompanied by ruthless beatings. The
men asked him if he had got the photographs from abroad
and, when Dorjee said that he had not, he was beaten even
more savagely for "lying". The interrogations went on for
seven days and around the second week of March 1996, Dorjee
was sentenced to three years prison. With the help of his
uncle who knew someone in the county office, Dorjee was
released on bail on March 22, 1997, after serving one year.
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Lukar Jam's
prison term is one of the longest-known sentences
handed down to a Tibetan Political offender in
the last twenty years. It is, however, part of a noticeable
pattern of Tibetans who, after spending time in India for
reasons of study, pilgrimage or family, are arrested and
imprisoned as "spies" for the Tibetan Government-in-Exile
on their return to Tibet.
Lukar Jam is a 28 year-old Tibetan from Sangnak township
in Shinhai County (Chinese: Xinghai) of the Tso Lho
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Ch: Hainan Prefecture),
Amdo (incorporated into Chinese Qinghai Province).
Lukar visited India in December 1991 where he studied
for one year at a Tibetan exile school. He returned to
Tibet in November 1992, allegedly carrying 14 letters
for Tibetans in Amdo, four of which were delivered.
In March1993, Lukar Jam was stopped by the border police
in Dingri about 50 km from the border with Nepal, while
making a second visit to India. The police reportedly
discovered some confidential documents together with two
letters addressed to the Tibetan Govermnent-in-Exile. Lukar
Jam was then sent back to Qinghai to he questioned by the
security police there.
From June 1994 onwards there were reports from Tibetan
refugees and unofficial sources that three Amdo men had
been sentenced for "espionage activities" and forming a
"counter-revolutionary" group. Some sentences of up to 18
years while other sources reported much lighter sentences
(See Human Rights Update, October 15, 1997).
Chinese authorities withheld all details of the three cases
and it was not until November 7 this year that investigations
by independent monitors were able to finally confirm
the sentencing.
The three Tibetans were detained in Delingha, a military
base in Haixi Prefecture, and tried by the Haixi Prefecture
Intermediate People's Court in June 1994. Lukar Jam,
referred to in the Chinese documents by the Chinese
name Li Kexian, received eight years for ģespionageī
and ten years for ģthe crime of organising and leading a
counter-revolutionary groupī. His sentence was commuted to
a total of 17 years according to the court-issued Criminal
Judgement Document No. 19 (1994).
According to the official Chinese court documents, Lukar
Jam was sentenced for collecting information and for
starting a secret pro-independence group. Lukar was also
aroused of planning to send abroad books about history
and economics.
The other two Amdo men were Tsegon Gyal and Nam Loyak,
alleged to have written the letters found in Lukar's
possession. They were reportedly detained in May 1993 and
sentenced to 16 yews and 12 years respectively for writing
the letters as well as allegedly "collecting confidential
information" and joining Lukar Jam's "secret group". The
sentencing of a fourth Tibetan also accused of joining
the group, was not specified in the documents.
The Haixi Prosecution Service told the court that Lukar
Jam and the two other men had "delivered four items of
correspondence" which Lukar had brought from India and
"purchased and collected over 30 volumes of books and
materials, such as surveys of eight autonomous prefectures
or counties of our 'Qinghai province' as well as eight
items of 'classified or top secret documents and data'."
The "unlawful", "classified" or "top secret" nature of the
publication is not explained or specified in the court
documents. The documents do state that the prosecution
presented as evidence to the court, "one volume of
statistical information about the national economy
[and] one handbook of statistics about the education
system". Ironically, such county surveys and statistical
information are known to be openly sold in book-shops
throughout Tibet and China and are also available from
specialist libraries in the West.
It is reported that authorities at the trial said Lukar was
sent to Qinghai by an "external illegal organisation" to
"deliver correspondence and gather intelligence" and that
"on numerous occasions he disseminated reactionary opinions
concerning such subjects as 'Tibetan Independence'".
Tibetan refugees in India say that Lukar and the other
two men never accepted the Chinese allegations against
them and argued that many of the books were for public
sale. These arguments reportedly rejected by-the Chinese as
"false and in contradiction with the law".
Express your concern over Lukar Jam's shocking prison tem
by writing an appeal to the Chinese embassy and
send it to TCHRD
for forwarding.
[ top ]
Two monks from Kham were arrested and imprisoned In June
this year for pasting Independence wallposters. They have
not been seen since.
In May 1997, two monks from La Monastery in Lapa township,
Zadhe county in Kyekudo, Kham (Ch:Qinghai), pasted wall
posters condemning Chinese rule. Some residents feared
the repercussions and tore down the posters.
In early June 1997, posters were again pasted. This time,
no one tore down the posters and the next day the local
policemen saw them. A search was launched and two monks
were arrested and taken away that same evening.
The two monks were
Tsering Tashi, aged 30, and
Yidhi, aged 24.
Both monks were attending to the La Monastery's small
provisional store in Zadhe county, about one night's
journey from the monastery. The two were easily traced
because the paper they had used to make the posters was
sold only in their shop. They accepted responsibility
for the posters because they feared that others might be
arrested for no reason.
Tsering Tashi and Yidhi are currently being held in Kyekudo
prison. No one has been permitted to see either of the
monks and nothing is known of their present condition. They
were reported to have undergone severe beatings during
their initial interrogations.
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