15 November 1998
-
Hermitage destroyed and residents forced to leave
[ read ]
-
Ngawang Choephel transferred to Drapchi prison
[ read ]
-
Ordeal of a former political prisoner
[ read ]
-
Abbot of Kumbum flees to the US
[ read ]
-
Profile:
Tortured for independence activity
[ read ]
-
Lhadar
[ read ]
Former residents of
Drakyerpa hermitage
have reported that they were evicted by
"work-team" members and their living area destroyed. A new construction,
funded by donations of 150,000 yuan (approximately $US18,000), was also
demolished. The first report of "work-teams" entering the hermitage
appeared in the Human Rights Update of June 30, 1997. This latest report
has been confirmed by former residents. Similar accounts of Samye
Chenpo hermitage being targeted by "work-teams" was also reported in our
August 31, 1997 Human Rights Update.
Drakyerpa is a hermitage in Taktse County, "TAR". Until this year, around 120
people lived in retreat at the hermitage, using it as a base for prayer
and meditation. The majority of the people at the retreat were nuns,
many of them over 65 years old. Some had lived there for more
than 18 years.
In June 1997 construction started at the hermitage for a main assembly hall
to accommodate people for religious teachings. The main funder
was Lama Azom Trulku, well-known in Tibet for taking care of monks and
nuns who have been expelled from their monasteries and nunneries since
China initiated its 'Strike Hard' campaign in 1996. Funding for the
building cost around 150,000 yuan with the majority donated by a tourist.
Halfway through the construction, ten officials from various level of offices came
to the hermitage. They comprised of officials from Lhasa District, Taktse
County PSB and officials from Bodoe township. They convened all the monks
and nuns and announced that no "splittist" activities would be tolerated
and that they must denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama. An order to pay
a land tax of one yuan each per day was imposed on all the residents.
Only upon payment were they entitled to a blue coloured permit which
allowed them to temporarily reside at the hermitage.
As daily living for the residents was reliant on donations from the local
Tibetan community, many of the residents could not afford 30 yuan a month.
Appeals to the authorities by the younger members of the hermitage were
initially left unheeded. The monks then appealed to "TAR" authorities,
and were no longer bothered by officials. Construction work resumed
and was completed at the end of 1997.
However,
at the beginning of 1998, the authorities resumed their crack-down.
During the Tibetan New Year in February, around 100 of the residents of
the hermitage went to Lhasa for pilgrimage and prostration, accompanied
by Lama Azom Trulku. Ten days later, Lama Azom was surrounded by policemen
at his relative's house and ordered to immediately leave Lhasa. Authorities
threatened to arrest his relatives and confiscate his house and property
if he refused to comply. He was put on a plane to Chengdu and
deported to Gonjo County, his place of birth.
Authorities then sent a "work-team" to the hermitage and ordered all the elderly
monks and nuns to return to their homes. Moreover, their town heads or
village authorities were called to take them back to their respective villages.
An elderly nun named Palden Wangmo and her daughter Kunchok Chodon were
taken in a vehicle to Shigatse, and kept in the regional prison for
three days. During their brief detention they were publicly humiliated
by being paraded around the town with a red wooden plank hung on
their back, their hands tied and a paper cap on their heads.
A 66 year-old nun, Ngawang Yangzom, was forcibly pulled out from the cave
by "work-team" members while she was in meditation. She was
later sent back to her home. Two other nuns, Nga Dron (65) and Tharlam
Dolma (75) were also expelled.
The new assembly hall was ordered to be demolished on grounds that the construction
was illegal. Around 30 men were present to carry out the order.
The caves where the monks were meditating were also destroyed, the entrances
sealed and sacred idols taken away. Valuable objects objects were
taken to the Bodoe township and strict orders were issued that anyone who
claimed them would be arrested. The "work-team" members were
all Tibetan.
Eleven people remain at the hermitage and are forced to pay rent. The remaining
109 residents were forced to leave as they could not afford the rent.
Nine of the former residents are now in exile in Dharamasala, India.
[ top ]
Confirmed reports received from Tibet indicate that Ngawang Choephel,
the musicologist who is serving 18 years for "espionage",
has been in Drapchi Prison since June 27, 1998.
He was transferred to Drapchi after being detained
at Nyari Detention Centre in Shigatse, "Tibet Autonomous Region",
since August 1995.
While in detention he was able to appeal his sentence.
His transfer to Drapchi prison, a high-security prison in Lhasa housing
the majority of Tibetan political prisoners, marks the end of his right
to appeal.
Choephel was first detained in 1995, while travelling in Tibet to research traditional
music and performing arts. Convicted on grounds of "espionage" and
accused of being a spy for the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, he was formally
sentenced by the Shigatse Intermediate People's Court on December 26, 1996.
During his time at Nyari Detention Centre, it is reported that he had on
various occasions appealed to the Higher People's Court in Lhasa, but were
all rejected.
On June 27, 1998 he was removed from the Detention Centre and it was suspected
that he had been taken to Lhasa. His transfer to Drapchi prison was
later confirmed by a source who had been imprisoned with Choephel at Nyari
Detention Centre and has recently arrived in India. Unconfirmed reports
in May of this year state that Choephel was suffering from ill health while
in detainment.
The information about his transfer coincides with the current campaign of Choephel"s
mother, Sonam Dekyi, to gain international support in requesting the Chinese
authorities to grant her a visa to visit her son in Tibet, or to release
him. Mrs Dekyi has, so far, received support from politicians and
political groups in the US and the UK, including nine US senators who sent
a letter to Ambassador Li, the Chinese representative in Washington DC,
on October 6, 1998, requesting the authorities to grant a visitors' visa
for Mrs Dekyi.
As yet, there has been no response from Chinese authorities regarding requests
made since 1996, or information relating to Choephel.
[ top ]
Gyaltsen Ngodup
is a former nun of Chubsang Nunnery in Lhasa City. She arrived in
India this month after being expelled from her nunnery and spending three
years in prison and detention in Tibet.
Gyaltsen, also known as Dadon, joined Chubsang in 1986 when she was 16 years old.
There were around 20 nuns already living there.
In December 1989 a Chinese "work-team" of 12 members came to the nunnery and
organised compulsory meetings to instruct the nuns on political ideology.
They also told the nuns not to support or participate in "splittist' activities
in the nunnery, which supported His Holiness, the Dalai Lama.
However, on December 10, 1989, when H.H. the Dalai Lama was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize, 12 of the nuns made incense offerings and recited prayers
for Tibet's freedom while the "work-team" members were present.
Although Gyaltsen was not involved in this activity she was expelled from
Chubsang with the 12 nuns, and ordered to return home immediately.
She remained in contact with the nunnery and briefly returned for
a prayer festival after the "work-team" had departed.
On August 19, 1991, Gyaltsen and five other nuns from Chubsang staged
a peaceful demonstration in Lhasa. At around 11a.m. they carried a Tibetan
national flag around the central Cathedral in Barkhor. The five other
nuns were Tashi Dolkar (22), Ngawang Tseten (25), Gyaltsen Damchoe (22)
and Tsultrim Sangmo (22). Within 15 minutes, they were arrested by Barkhor
PSB officials, taken to the local police station and beaten. They were
then transferred to an 'anti-riot control' department where they were interrogated
for two hours, hit with rifle butts and slapped. Finally they were
taken to Gutsa Detention Centre.
In Gutsa, they were individually interrogated and kept standing for four hours.
In the evening, they were taken to separate cells without any bedding.
They were kept in Gutsa for almost four and half months with constant interrogations
and beatings.
When their detention period came to an end in early 1992, they were all sentenced
to three years of "re-education-through-labour".
While in Gutsa, in February 1992, a Chinese prison guard reprimanded the nuns
for reciting prayers in the cell, which is forbidden. He struck Gyaltsen"s
right leg with a baton. She fell down half unconscious and had to drag
herself to her cell. The next day, Gyaltsen complained to Gutsa authorities
about the unnecessary beating. That night officials asked her questions
about the incident and Gyaltsen showed them marks from the beating.
But instead of receiving help, she was confined to a single cell for 19 days.
Upon her release from solitary confinement, she was kept with six other women
for five months. Gyaltsen fell ill for three months of her imprisonment
which resulted in permanent scars. Her eyes were constantly swollen and
her nose spontaneously bled. Dark blue marks emerged on her wrist and knuckles
and she developed a burning sensation on her hands, making her unable to
close her fist.
In May 1992, she was transferred to Toelung prison "re-education-through-labour"
camp along with the other nuns. They were the first female political
prisoners to be imprisoned at Toelung. For two years the nuns
were subjected to hard labour on farms. On August 17, 1994, the nuns
were released but an order was placed "not to re-admit [them] in the nunnery".
Gyaltsen returned to her home and stayed there for one month.
She decided to leave Tibet in October 1994, so came to India via Nepal. However,
after a few months in India her health deteriorated and she chose to return
to Tibet. She reached Lhasa in February, 1995, and was treated for
three months at Lhasa District Hospital. After recovering she returned home.
In early 1997 Gyaltsen was constantly called upon by
the district officials to report about her activities and whereabouts in Lhasa.
On November 24, 1997, Gyaltsen's house was raided by PSB officials and she
was taken for interrogation at the PSB office. They accused her of travelling
to India without proper papers and meeting with political prisoners in Tibet.
She was kept under scrutiny and interrogation for one month in a PSB office,
although she was not officially detained. She was released
on January 1998. Since then, Gyaltsen was frequently interrogated at her
home by officials from PSB, Lhasa district police and local police. In
September 1998, she was again summoned to the district police station with
36 former political prisoners, on suspicion of involvement in a bomb explosion
in Lhasa a few months earlier. However, everyone was released.
Gyaltsen says that she was unable to lead a normal life with the constant
interrogations by police.
Her family was also harassed by officials.
Eventually she felt she had no choice but to permanently leave Tibet.
She left Lhasa on September 20, 1998. She reached Nepal on 11th October
1998 and now lives in Dharamsala, India.
[ top ]
The Abbot of Kumbum monastery, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lama in
the province of Amdo, has fled Tibet to America, according to a report
from TIN on November 12. It is believed that the abbot, Agya Rinpoche,
has fled Tibet after disputes with the Chinese authorities.
He is one of the most high-level religious leaders in Tibet.
TIN states that Agya Rinpoche may have refused to comply with Chinese authorities
to move the Chinese-appointed 11th Panchen Lama to the monastery.
The boy is currently based at Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse.
Unconfirmed reports state that Tibetans in Shigatse have opposed his appointment,
so authorities believed Kumbum monastery is a safer base for the child.
However, if Agya Rinpoche agreed to move the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama to Kumbum,
— this would have indicated approval of this choice above that of the Dalai
Lama,states the TIN report. The 11th Panchen Lama incarnation, who was appointed
by His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, has been held incommunicado by Chinese
authorities since 1995.
It is unclear whether Agya Rinpoche will apply for political asylum in the
United States.
[ top ]
Torture is often part of the detainment process for people involved in political
activity. In some cases the physical abuse may lead to death, although
the authorities often deny responsibility, citing suicide as the cause
of death. In other cases, torture can have severe psychological effects,
which may drive the person to suicide. The following profiles personify
both cases.
Tsenyi was born in 1970 in Lhasa. Her parents worked as tailors for Yabshe Taktse,
the family of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama. She joined Lhasa Bonshod School
in 1977, studying Tibetan and Chinese for five years and continued her
studies at ìTAR"sî middle school until 1989. In the same year, she
worked for Tibet Daily, a newspaper published from Lhasa.
In 1990, Tsenyi decided to flee Tibet for India and studied English for two
years at the Tibetan Children's Village in Bir, northern India. However,
in December 1992 her father died and she decided to return to Tibet to
perform religious ceremonies for him. She left India in January 1993.
In May 1993 Tsenyi and her sister, Penpa, participated in a protest in Lhasa
— the first large-scale popular demonstration among Tibetans since 1989.
The event was initiated to protest against increased taxes on merchandise,
but turned into a pro-independence movement which was broken up by security
forces. On June 17, 1993, the PAP (People's Armed Police) raided
and searched Tsenyi's family house and arrested Tsenyi. The following
month, Tsenyi's younger sister, Penpa, was also arrested.
Tsenyi was taken to Gutsa Detention Centre and was beaten during interrogations.
Reports state she was pregnant at the time. She was temporarily released
but remained under suspicion and was constantly observed. Unable
to cope with the harassment and pressure, Tsenyi committed suicide, leaving
behind her child less than a year old. TCHRD has not received reports
regarding the where-abouts of her sister, Penpa.
[ top ]
Lhadar, aged 33, was a monk from Lithang Monastery in Kham. On August 20,
1993, he was arrested along with four other monks from the same monastery
for pro-independence activities.
Ngawang Tsultrim, the father of one of the monks arrested with Lhadar, said that
they were arrested for "launching a massive wall-poster campaign on Tibetan
independence in Lithang region from the late 1980s."
He was reportedy badly beaten while in Chinese police custody in Lithang district.
A year later, in August 1994, he died from his injuries while still in
detainment. Reports received from people who had fled Tibet around
that time stated: "For two whole days, Tibetans refused to take custody
of Lhadar's corpse from the prison because the Chinese authorities would
not offer a satisfactory explanation for his sudden death."
The source (who requested that their identity remain confidential) said that
the Tibetans in Lithang did not believe in the Chinese version of the story
that "Lhadar committed suicide" while in custody. They believe the Chinese
authorities were responsible for his death.
Lithang Monastery had been completely destroyed by the People's Liberation Army
in the mid-1950s. It has since been renovated.
|
