The 29-year-old prominent political prisoner was arrested in May 1993 for his suspected involvement in a secret, political and espionage activities. On the evening of May 9, 1993, Namloyak was stopped by the head of County Public Security Bureau and two officers in the street of the Xinghai town.

On the pretext of offering a drink, the officers took him to the County hotel where a group of security personnel, including the head of the National Security Department, was waiting to arrest him. After the arrest, three officials were left to guard Namloyak while the remaining nine went to search his home. He was handcuffed behind his back and taken away in a truck at 4.30 am the next morning. From his house the officials had confiscated a photo album and secret letters relating to education and social development. It was reported that Namloyak was subjected to torture during extensive interrogations following his arrest.

In December 1992 in Xining City, Namloyak, together with two friends, Lukar Jam and Tsegongyal, were suspected of forming a political organisation called "Dare to Die" (Tib: Chi Pö). The trio were then accused of trying to distribute state secrets to the outside world, but at no point did they admit to the allegations of "espionage".

On July 28, 1994, following the order issued by the Qinghai Security Department, Tsonub Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), (Ch: Haixi) Intermediate People's Court conducted a secret trial involving officials from the Haixi Procuratorate and the Tsonub Security Department. The three men were denied any rights to be represented by a lawyer.

The men were found guilty of committing "espionage activities" and forming a "counter-revolutionary" group by the Tsonub TAP Prefecture Intermediate People's Court. The court sentenced Namloyak to 12 years imprisonment on July 28, 1994. Lukar Jam and Tsegongyal were sentenced to 17 years and 16 years imprisonment respectively. All three appealed to the Qinghai Higher People's Court arguing that the sentences imposed on them were unjust andthe charges against them groundless. However, no action has been taken to date.

During imprisonment, Lukar Jam's physical condition deteriorated. In early 1995, the Tsonub People's Hospital physicians declared Lukar's condition extremely serious and warned of his possible death. Fearing accusation of ill treatment, the prison authorities immediately released him on medical parole. While in prison, they defied prison rules by staging several hunger strikes.Their further continued resistance hampered the Chinese security and "reform" actvities in the prison. It was therefore deemed necessary to release both men on bail, in accordance with clause 26 of the Detention Laws of the People's Republic of China and Section 24 of the Chinese Criminal Procedure Law. And during his time of detention Tsegongyal remained sick and was under medication. On June 24, 1997 Namloyak and Tsegongyal were released for two months on bail. They were re-arrested on August 13,1997 before the expiry of their bail.

In consideration of the appeals made by Namloyak and Tsegongyal two years before, the Higher People's Court formed a committee to review the earlier verdict issued by the Tsonub Intermediate People's Court. In its verdict of September 7, 1997, Qinghai Higher People's Court concluded that the defendants had committed crimes that threatened the "national unity" and therefore were liable to be punished for their acts. However, the High Court stated that the sentences imposed on the defendants by the lower court were in excess of the punishable crime. Therefore, the earlier ruling of the Haixi was made null and void and a fresh ruling was issued reducing the prison terms of Namloyak to 4 years and Tsegongyal to 6 years.

Born January 10, 1970, in Lharde village, Thangnag Township, Xinghai County in Qinghai Province. Namloyak attended his village boarding school for four years (till 1984), after which he went to the county's Intermediate Nationalities school where he completed "Middle School".

He then joined Tsolho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture's Teacher Training school and the Qinghai Province's Special Teacher Training School. His studies completed, Namloyak worked as a researcher in the county's Education Department and in December 1991, he visited India returning to Tibet after studying one year in Dharamsala.

Namloyak has been incarcerated in various Chinese prisons. Dro-tsang County Detention Centre in Tso-shar and prisons in the counties of Menlho and Phenyen, Delingha in Tsonub, Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture.

Tsegongyal is still being held in Tsojang (Ch: Haibei) Prison and is expected to be released in September 2000. Chinese document shows that he is suffering from tuberculosis. Namloyak fled Lhasa this year on February 21, 1999 and reached Nepal a month later on March 21, 1999. He arrived Dharamsala on March 30, 1999.

Work team in Tsang Monastery

Thap-Shay is a 24-year-old monk of Tsang Monastery from Malho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sogo County (Ch: Hainan ) Arik village. He reports that in June 1998 eight officials from County and Province office came to his monastery where they stayed about one month instilling "patriotic re-education" sessions. The monks were instructed to study books and documents distributed by the officials. The "work team" officials divided the monks into four groups (Tib: Tsok-chung). Each group was assigned to two "work team" officials and given a book to study. This entailed learningthe laws of the People"s Republic of China (PRC) and opposing His Holiness Dalai Lama (HHDL).

For the whole month, "work team" officials called regular three-hour meetings twice a day, once in the morning and again in the evening. Every monk had to attend each meeting. If they were late, the monks were rebuked, slapped, punched or kicked.

The monks were forced to oppose HHDL and "splittism". After every session, one of the monks was made to "oppose the Dalai Lama", to "denounce the Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama" to "accept the unity of the motherland" and "to accept the Chinese selected Panchen Lama". The monks were threatened with serious punishment if pictures of the Dalai Lama or the Panchen Lama recognised by the His Holiness were discovered. The "work team" officials introduced an official quota of 300 monks. The remaining monks would be expelled. The age limit for admission into the monastery was then set at 18 years.

So far seven monks, including Thap-Shay, have been expelled from the monastery. It is believed that each monk who failed to attend the "patriotic re-education" session were to be expelled. After one month the "work team" members left. The monks were informed by the officials that they would return after two months.

Tsang Monastery, in Thun-dhay is about 500 years old and was founded by Tsang "Pandita" Lobsang Gyatso. At the time Thap-Shay left the monastery there were about 800 monks in Tsang Monastery in Thun-dhay County.

Thap-shay also related that because of the land partition by the Chinese authorities between the Nyogra and Arik village, 28 Tibetan people were killed in the conflict over the land. Since then, the latest fighting has occurred in March 1999 in which three people from Arik village have been killed.

Officials from Beijing often promise to settle the disputes immediately but after having visited the area twice, the authorities have resolved nothing. Furthermore, all the expenses for these officials have been borne by the local Tibetan people. It is believed that instigating confrontations amongst the Tibetan people is an intentional move by the Chinese. The Thap-shay family are nomads consisting of 11 members. Thap-shay has never been to school but at the age of 15 joined the Tsang Monastery at which time there were approximately 300 monks. He arrived in Dharamsala on May 21, 1999.

Birth control in Nyandren Town

In a report that appeared in "Tibet Daily" of March 23, 1998, the birth control policy introduced in Nyangdren town in Lhasa City was a huge success. This successful policy has been implemented with regard to both the family planning procedures of the People's Republic of China and the existing conditions of Nyangdren town. The report also states that the family planning authorities have sincerely carried out the policy with full cooperation from the local people and have applied other new approaches in the implementation of the policy.

Documents relating to the birth control policy were distributed by the County Health Department who were specifically invited the year before by officials of Nyangdren town. The documents were distributed so that the people could study them before the actual execution of the plans. In total, 33 meetings were held in which 756 people attended out of which 515 were women. In Nyang-dren town, 342 out of 379 married women underwent sterilisation and 295 women were provided with contraceptive pills. The figure comprises of 90.23 per cent of the total married women. The town Department of Health had invited medical experts from the United States. It was also reported that an official of the town authority applauded the successful performance of the Department of Health. The official supplemented his comment by complimenting the control over the population growth. "This has directly resulted in the alleviation of the living conditions and reasonably increased the economic growth of the people," added the official.

Lithang man serving ten years for "counter revolutionary" crime

Ngawang Chomphel initially started his political activities during the Lithang Monlam festival in 1991. Chomphel, together with his friends Shulu (28) and Jamyang Dhondup (36), distributed leaflets. Approximately 2000 monks and hundreds of lay people were present in Lithang Monastery. The leaflets read "Tibetans and Chinese are different"; "Tibet is a country with a history"; "China has illegally occupied Tibet"; "Many of the Tibetans have died of starvation", and "Many families were separated as a direct result of Chinese rule". On August 2, 1992 Ngawang Chomphel and two other men from Lithang, (Ta-Lobsang and Jamyang Dhondup) wrote a 1000 word leaflet which read "Chinese are like poisonous snakes"; "Tibet is independent"; "Chinese are deceiving us", "Tibetans have nowhere to go"; "We Tibetans have to unite", and so on. They distributed the leaflets during the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) held at Lithang racecourse.

They were not arrested but were faced with that possibility at any time. The two men, Ngawang Chomphel and Jamyang Dhondup left for India in early 1993 as part of a large group. Upon reaching the airport near Sher Kumbu, twenty members of the group were arrested by the Nepali police and handed over to the Chinese border security personnel at Dram. Jamyang was captured and detained in Dram for seven days. Ngawang Chomphel successfully escaped into exile in India.

In the meantime, Ta-Lobsang and Jamyang again prepared leaflets on July 29, 1993, but were unable to distribute them. On July 30, 1993 Ngawang Chomphel returned to Tibet after being in India for about five months. The group of three then proposed to launch a major protest throughout many of the counties in Lithang. The People's Armed Police (PAP) became aware of this plan. Considering their options they finally decided not to flee, but to voluntarily surrender themselves to the police. On August 19, 1993, Jamyang along with his cousin Gyatso, went to the police station. Ngawang Chomphel was arrested at his residence by the PSB officials of the Lithang County and was taken to Lithang County Prison on the same day as Jamyang. Over the following two days, most of Ngawang's other friends were arrested, including Ta Lobsang (28), Lo Drakpa (28), a statue maker, Tsundue (44), a businessman, Chomphel (27) and A-Ngag (35), a musician. Ngawang and his friends were detained in Lithang Prison for four months during which time they were interrogated and beaten. Electric cattle prods were used on them to extract information and confessions to the alleged crime. During interrogation, the police officers asked Ngawang questions such as: "Who led you to do such acts?", "Who are your companions?" and "For what reasons have you decided to do these activities?" After the PSB officials failed to draw any satisfactory answers, the two men were transferred to Karze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture's Detention Centre in late December 1993. They were kept there for another 10 months and interrogated further.

Ngawang Chomphel's friend, La-thak, died in the Lithang Detention Centre from excessive beatings inflicted by prison guards. The authorities of the Detention Centre gave the reason for his death as "suicide". In Karze Detention Centre, Chomphel and other activists were not beaten as often, but suffered from poor nutrition. They were provided with half a steamed bun in the mornings, half a plate of rice during lunch and diluted gruel in the evenings. In September 1994, the Intermediate People's Court of Karze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture formally sentenced the group. Ngawang Chomphel was indicted as a "counter-revolutionary" activist and ringleader of the group and therefore sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. He was also deprived of his political rights for five years. Treated more harshly by the court, for having previously fled to India, he was under suspicion for associating with "outside" people and organisations. Jamyang Dhondup was sentenced to five years imprisonment and a further three years deprivation of political rights. Ta Lobsang received a five year prison term and three years deprivation of political rights.

Subsequent to their trial, they were transferred to Ngaba Prison which is known as 43-4 Prison, Mao County, Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. At the time, the prison held about 2000 inmates 1600 of whom were Tibetans. There are four units here. Ngawang Chomphel is kept in unit number one along with approximately 10 other Tibetan political prisoners. Ngawang Chomphel's health has deteriorated. He has developed swellings on his body. His feet are so swollen he is unable to wear shoes. His friend Jamyang, in India, says his spirits are high, and he is determined to do anything for the cause of Tibet. Ngawang says that he has never regretted his deeds or his present condition. His friend Jamyang, however, fears that he will die in prison as he has no one to take care of him.

Discrimination at Zoge School

Tsering Gyatso is a 17-year-old student of Zoge County, Sichuan Province. Tsering left Tibet in December 1998 to flee to India. He was arrested and detained in Shigaste Detention Centre for a month. Upon his release, he made escape plans and finally reached India in May 1999. Tsering gave a a brief account of the school he attended in Tibet and the discrimination he was experienced against the Chinese students.

In the Zoge County School, there are around 200 students. The school is divided into Tibetan and English sections. The Tibetan section holds 150 students and the remaining 50 are in the Chinese section. The students receive grants directly issued from the County government. The Chinese students get 60-100 yuan a month and the Tibetan students get only 25-30 yuan a month. Gyatso's school however, does not exempt fees. In fact, the Tibetan students are discriminated against to pay more fees than their Chinese counterparts who have to pay only 1500 yuan whereas the Tibetan students pay 3500 yuan per month. This fee excludes the "miscellaneous fees" for buying school materials. There are approximately eight teachers out of whom five are Tibetan and the rest are Chinese. Younger teachers replace the senior (older) Tibetan teachers. Gyatso believes the reason behind this is that the younger teachers will have little or no knowledge about the historical and cultural aspect of Tibet.

In 1997, three Tibetan students were arrested and detained in a prison for a month for pasting publicity materials on the Tibetan government-in-exile on the school notice board. The three implicated students, Tsering, Kunga and Tenpa were interrogated and detained in the County Prison for a month and were later released. The three students were expelled from the school and ordered to return to their homes.

Since this incident, the Tibetan students are treated with suspicion. They are regularly given "instruction" that restrict them from talking about anything remotely political.