15 June 1999
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Nun detained for eight months on suspicion
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Important announcement: Human Rights Update becomes monthly
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Discrimination in schools in Ngapa Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture
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Nun detained for six years for freedom activites
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Tibetans continue to be arrested and detained for
attempting to flee Tibet.
The duration of detention does not conform with
International law or China"s own domestic laws. Monks
and nuns are more vulnerable to torture and beatings as
resistance towards Chinese policies has often emerged
from the monasteries and nunneries. Tibetans without
any political linkage are also often held for long
durations.The following story is one such account of a
nun from Garu Nunnery.
Gyaltsen Tenchoe joined Garu Nunnery when she was 23
years old in 1994. While she was at the nunnery, ten "work
team" members came to conduct a "patriotic re-education"
campaign. From 1993 to 1995, Chinese officials from the
county came five times to the nunnery. Usually the officers
would leave in the evenings as Garu Nunnery was close to
Lhasa, however, they would sometimes stay at the nunnery
for at least a week.
The constant visits and "re-education" hampered the nuns"
daily spiritual practices. The officers consistently
reminded the nuns that they were being prepared for the
arrival of future "work team" members who would conduct a
more intensive campaign. The "re-education" mostly embodied
opposing His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This resulted in
disturbances and instilled fear in the nuns" minds. Tension
started to brew and nuns were contemplating leaving
voluntarily before the "work team" officials arrived.
In March 1996, Gyaltsen and two other nuns chose to evade
"re-education" by fleeing Tibet. After two days of walking
they were close to Sakya County when they were arrested
by Sakya security officials. They were taken to Shigatse
Police Station where they were detained for the night. The
entire night they faced interrogations. The next morning
they were transferred to Nyari Detention Centre. In Nyari,
the nuns saw many other Tibetans arrested and detained
for attempting to flee Tibet. In the female section the
three nuns were kept with three other women.
During the first month of detention they were interrogated
and instructed to plead guilty to pro-independence
activities. The other Tibetans held for trying to flee
Tibet were released a month after they were brought
into Nyari. The nuns, however, were detained longer
and security officials constantly told them to admit
that their reason behind fleeing was their political
connections. They were told that if they did not admit
this they would continue to be detained. After the
first month the intensity of the questions became more
severe. The officials started beating the nuns. They
were separated and kept in different blocks. They were
interrogated further and ordered to accept their crime. At
one stage the authorities attempted to trick each of the
nuns separately into believing that the other two nuns had
confessed. They did this by playing false tapes of muffled
voices confessing to involvement in pro-independence
activities. This trap failed for the simple reason that
none of the nuns had any such involvement or anything to
"confess" to.
Gyaltsens' relatives came to know about her plight and
went to visit her. However, they were not allowed to see
her and had to return home.
Prison conditions were poor, there was no light at
all at night and the food was very bad. In total, they
were arbitrarily detained for eight months under these
conditions. They were denied legal representation and
visitations from their families.
Eventually, after eight months, in November 1997, the trio
and four others from Lhasa arrested on similar charges
were taken to Gutsa Detention Centre in Lhasa. In Gutsa,
they were detained for ten days and kept in separate cells
where they were again subjected to interrogation.
Finally they were handed over to Toelung Dechen County
police station. There, the police authorities informed them
that they were expelled from the nunnery and that they
could not go further than the county without permission.
With these restrictions they were told to return home. None
of the three nuns met again. Gyaltsen escaped as soon as
she had the opportunity and reached India on June 13, 1999.
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Dear Readers,
Please note that as of July 1999, our fortnightly Human
Rights Update will be made a monthly publication. This
change is to enhance the quality of the content of our
publications.
We hope the change does not inconvenience you. We
assure you that any urgent information which needs to
be immediately relayed shall be done so in the form of
press releases.
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Gonpo Sonam
(22) was a teacher at the Ngaba "Middle school",
Sichuan Province, Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous prefecture
(TAP), Zoge County. At the age of seven he
attended Lobchung (primary)school in Jhamey Township
for five years. He then completed another five years of
Lobdring (middle) school in Ngapa TAP. After that, he
joined Nubjang (Chi: Xi biai) Higher Nationalities School
(Landrou, Gansu Province) and studied there for three
years. In July 1996 he joined Luchu County Nationalities
Middle school. After completing his teacher training he was
immediately appointed as a teacher in Ngaba TAP's Tibetan
Middle school (Lobdring) in August 1996 and worked there
until December 1998.
While Gonpo was in Lobchung he only had to pay around 10-20
yuan for four text books. At the time of his schooling
"free and compulsory education" for children up to the
lower middle school was implemented as a fundamental
right enshrined in the Chinese Constitution. This policy
has ceased to exist. Each year there are two semesters,
one semester used to cost 300 yuan then, however today,
it has increased to about 500-600 yuan.
In Nubjang Higher Nationalities School, the students were
required to pay 700 yuan per semester. However, Chinese
students do not have to pay anything. Currently, the fees
have increased to 1200-1300 yuan per semester.
Gonpo studied 15 different subjects including: Tibetan
Philosophy; Public relations; Chinese Revolution history;
Marxist ideology and socialism. All of these subjects
were taught in Chinese. There were around 3,000 students,
of which only 200 of them were Tibetan and 600 were from
different ethnic origins. The rest of the students were
all Chinese.
After completing Lobdring, Gonpo was provided with
a teachers training course free of cost at the Ngaba
Teachers Training School. When he finished his course,
he returned to his hometown as a teacher in Ngaba Middle
School. He taught Tibetan grammar and books written by
Mao Zedong and other popular Chinese leaders. The teachers
were instructed not to give any "counter-revolutionary"
lessons to the students. Gonpo was paid 500 yuan per month
as his salary.
In March 1999 Gonpo, along with his friend Wangchuk,
travelled to Lhasa to join the teacher training School
in the Tibet Autonomous Region High School. When they
approached the school authorities to register their names,
they were shocked to find five Public Security Bureau
(PSB) officials from Zoge County waiting for Gonpo. The
PSB officials interrogated him in the TAR High School
and accused him of preaching "counter-revolutionary"
instruction to the students whilst teaching in the Ngaba
Middle School. The PSB decided to take him to Ngaba and
cancelled his admission to the High School. That same
evening, Gonpo made preparations to escape to India. He
left Lhasa on April 1999 through the Nagchu and Gyala
border. He reached Nepal on May 4, 1999 by paying 800
yuan to a guide. He arrived in Dharamsala on June 3,
1999.
Upon arrival in India Gonpo testified in detail about
the situation of education for Tibetan children in
Tibet while he was a teacher in Ngapa Middle School.
"To attend Lobchung school, parents are required to
pay 300 yuan. The subjects taught are Tibetan, Chinese,
and Science. In recent times two additional subjects,
psychology and ecology are included in the curriculum. In
Lobdring the subjects taught are: Tibetan; Chinese; Math;
political science; History; Geography; Environment Science;
Chemistry; Biology; Socialism and Mao Ideology. Subjects
taught in College are similar.
"In the Ngaba TAP there are 13 counties. Each county has
one Lobdring. These schools are said to be for Tibetans
and are given Tibetan names. However, in reality the
Tibetan language is given the lowest priority. Socialism
and Communist Ideology are the main subjects taught in the
schools. Most of the teaching materials are Chinese books
translated into Tibetan. Teachers are restricted to teach
only those subjects stipulated by the authorities".
In July 1998, Gonpo was appointed as class teacher of a
43 student class. Besides teaching he was responsible
for guiding the students in discipline and likewise.
Once, when talking to one of the classes, he spoke on the
importance of national identity and language.
In 1997 the PSB of Zoge County set up a five member PSB
security wing. Each five member was appointed on the basis
of his loyalty to the Chinese authorities. The task of
this security wing was to investigate how the teachers
conduct classes and to ascertain whether any reference to
politics is made.
The PSB security wing of the school informed the county
PSB about Gonpo's talks. Subsequently, an order was issued
from the county PSB informing the principal to remove him
from the post of class teacher. Gonpo was removed from his
post in August 1998, however, he was allowed to continue
teaching. The principal reasoned that he was "too young
and inexperienced to take on the responsibility of a
class teacher".
Gonpo fears that within ten years time,Tibetan language
and culture will be completely wiped out. "These days
Tibetan children are not showing much interest in the
Tibetan language. Further, parents discourage children
from studying Tibetan as it does not fetch anything good
for them, either in terms of money or social status. Other
Tibetan children who have grown up in Chinese schools and
Chinese culture feel superior to their own people and even
make derogatory remarks about their own parents.
"Many Tibetans speak less in Tibetan language as they get
an inferiority complex. Therefore, they try to speak
Chinese as much as possible. Even school examinations
are assessed on the basis of the marks scored in Chinese,
English and Math. In both the primary and middle school
the number of Tibetan related subjects are minimised. The
religious instituions are probably the only place where
one can study Tibetan language".
Gonpo estimates that those Tibetans who are indoctrinated
by the Chinese are about 70 per cent, the ones who are not
affected even after indoctrination, comprise of only 5 per
cent. The remaining 25 per cent are completely ignorant
about anything.
Gonpo also reports that Jamyang Gyatso, a monk from Taktsen
Monastery in Zoge County was arrested in February 1994 for
having painted a snow mountain. He was arrested whilst he
was going to county to fix the frame for the picture. When
he returned to his monastery, three PSB officers were
already waiting for him in his room. He was taken to the
county PSB office and detained there for ten days where
he was severely interrogated. He was later transferred to
Ngaba Higher People's Court where interrogations continued
for three months. They interrogated him as to why he drew
a picture which depicts the Tibetan national flag. He
replied that snow mountain is the landscape of Tibet and
is not a national flag.
Regardless of his defence he was implicated and sentenced
to one and half years" imprisonment by the Ngaba Higher
People's Court.
He was released in December 1995. After his release,
he was not allowed to rejoin his monastery and is now no
longer a monk.
Gonpo recalls that when he was a student in Nubjang High
School, a fellow student informed Gonpo that since 1992
Chinese authorities were actively carrying out dumping of
nuclear waste in the Mangra Township, Thundhe County in the
Tsolho TAP.
"One of the newspapers from Sichuan Province
reported that Qinghai and the TAR are the best places to
dump nuclear waste because of the vastness of the areas
and low population. The paper justified that the area is
also most suitable because of the cold weather conditions
which helps to keep the waste stagnant and limit vapour
emission" said Gonpo.
Gonpo also reported that sometimes several trucks full of
nuclear wastes were brought into the area. "Both the truck
and waste are burned together. People in the surrounding
areas have found many rubber gloves. Areas like Palkyi and
Thepo Township in Zoge County are also used to dump nuclear
wastes. New born babies in these areas are more frequently
born physically handicapped, blind or crippled. It is
believed that the nuclear wastes are being dumped by the
Lho-Nub Military camp in Chengdu".
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Jampa Choekyi
is 27 years old, from Chusur County Tsena Village.
From the ages of 8 to 13, Jampa attended lower
school (Lobchung). She completed her lower school to
5th standard after which she stayed at home to help
her parents in the field. In 1988, she joined Shugseb
Nunnery with both her parents" consent. When she was at
Shugseb she studied scriptures. With instructions from her
nunnery she became a caretaker at Lhasa Lubum Lhakang for
a year. During this time she witnessed a lot of political
disturbances in Lhasa. It was around the time when major
political demonstrations took place and a large number of
Tibetan people were arrested and detained. This made a
huge impression upon her about the legality of the Tibetan
freedom movement. Moreover, she was aware of the several
nuns from her nunnery who were already serving prison terms
for exercising their right to freedom of expression. She
decided not to remain passive about the issue.
On December 9, 1993 Jampa along with seven other nuns
from Shugseb Nunnery went to Lhasa. There they initiated a
peaceful demonstration condemning the Chinese occupation
of Tibet. Putting their lives at stake, the eight nuns
shouted pro-independence slogans such as "Free Tibet";
"Chinese quit Tibet"; and "Long Live His Holiness the Dalai
Lama" in front of Lhasa City Public Security Bureau (PSB)
officers. Plain clothed PSB officers immediately arrested
the nuns.
The identities of the nuns are Rinzin Tsundue (26);
Namgyal Choedon (26); Shilog Dolma (27); Norbu Yangchen
(25); Lodroe Palmo (29); Choenyi Dolma (26) and Norzin
(24). The nuns were transported to Gutsa Detention Centre.
The nuns suffered brutal beatings and torture at the hands
of the prison officials at Gutsa on a routine basis. When
the nuns were being interrogated, the officials used as
weapons anything that came to the reach of their hands. The
family members of the nuns were not allowed to meet them
at all. Relatives lived in constant anxiety about the nuns"
well being.
Finally, after five months of arbitrary detention, the
Lhasa Intermediate People"s Court tried the eight nuns. The
nuns were denied legal representation. The eight nuns were
charged with "counter-revolutionary" activities. Jampa
Choekyi and Rinzin Tsundue were sentenced to six years
imprisonment and two years deprivation of political
rights. The rest of the six nuns were sentenced to five
years imprisonment. After the trial, all eight nuns were
transferred to Drapchi Prison.
While in Drapchi, the nuns were again subjected to brutal
prison beatings in order to humiliate them and to show
the might of the prison officials. Some were sent to the
prison vegetable garden and the others for wool work.
They were also forced to attend political classes. The
prison officials often did things as they pleased which
meant that if there were any prisoners that they personally
did not like, they would get the worst treatment.
Except for Jampa Choekyi and Rinzin Tsundue, the rest of
the six nuns have been released from prison. They have been
strictly instructed not to rejoin their nunnery or join
any other nunnery. Jampa and Rinzin remain incarcerated in
Drapchi prison where they still endure prison adversities.
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