A well-known Tibetan singer was recently sentenced to prison after almost a year and a half of secret detention in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
Gonpo Tenzin, about 27, was sentenced on 15 April 2015 to three years and six months in prison, in addition to deprivation of political rights for four years, according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
A Tibetan monk was arrested and forcibly taken away by local police in Tawu (Ch: Daofu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
Tsewang Chophel, 26, who is a monk at Nyitso Monastery, was detained on 18 May 2015. According to a source, “At around 10.30 am, while Tsewang Chophel was approaching on his bike, he was suddenly arrested by the Chinese police near the Chikshe village.”
As of now, no one knows the reason behind his arrest and his physical condition.
According to local Tibetans in Tawu, however, Tsewang Chophel had been under police surveillance ever since Tibetans in Tawu protested against the Chinese authorities following the self-immolation of monk Kelsang Yeshi on 23 December 2014.
A Tibetan monk who was recently released after completing a seven-year prison term is in critical condition following injuries suffered during detention and lack of medical care in prison.
Palden Thinley, 26, was released from Deyang prison on the afternoon of 17 May 2015 in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham, according to information received by Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
On the day of his release, prison authorities handed over Palden Thinley to County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers in Kardze apparently to prevent local Tibetans from giving him a hero’s welcome. At around 3 am on 18 May 2015, the Kardze County PSB handed over Thinley to Dhato Township PSB, who in turn secretly summoned his family at night to pick him up.
A young Tibetan monk named Lobsang Kelsang was detained after staging a peaceful solo protest on the main road of Ngaba county town on 17 March this year. According to information received…
Chinese authorities have detained six monks for challenging a government order to fly Chinese national flags on their monastery rooftops. The unidentified monks had removed and burned a Chinese national flag hoisted on the rooftop of Drong-ngur Kagyu Phelgyeling Monastery at Wathang town in Diru County, Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.
In the year 2012, the human rights situation in Tibet hit a new low even as Tibet remained closed to independent media, UN monitors, international fact-finding delegations or visitors. The Chinese government effectively blocked communication channels and prevented information about human rights abuses from going out of Tibet. Despite heavy surveillance and restrictions, individual Tibetans continued to let the world know about the real situation in Tibet often at great personal risk. As the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food told the Human Rights Council session in March 2012: “We know that regularly the communication systems: Internet, the phones, SMS’s are blocked and Tibet is completely closed to independent observers, including the media.”
A Tibetan father of one who self-immolated in protest against the Chinese government early this month is being treated in a hospital in Lanzhou city, capital of Gansu Province, according to reliable information received by TCHRD.
Sungdue Kyap, 29, set himself on fire at around 3 pm (local time) on 2 December on highway no. 213 near Bora Monastery in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.
Official crackdown on Bora Monastery continues with the detention of five monks this month in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.
TCHRD has learned from reliable sources that on 3 December 2012, Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers from Amchok (Ch: Amuqu) County along with Bora Township government officials detained five monks – Gedun Gyatso, 47, Lobsang Phagpa, 34, Jamyang Soepa, 25, Jamyang Lodoe, about 20, and Jamyang Gyatso, about 20, from their monastic quarters.
Three Tibetan monks have ‘disappeared’ since their detention this month by local police in Chabcha (Ch: Gonghe) town of Serchen County in Tsolho (Ch: Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
According to information received by TCHRD, local police detained three monks from Khyamru Monastery in Serchen County for sharing information about the mass student protest that broke out on 26 November in Chabcha.
On 1 December, local Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers detained Sungrab Gyatso, 36, and since then no one including his family members and friends has received any information about his whereabouts and condition.
TCHRD has translated a letter written by a Tibetan monk, teacher and an activist in Tibet.
Written in August 2012, the letter, sent anonymously from Tibet, was addressed to the Special Meeting held in September 2012 in India. The letter raises important issues about the Tibetan freedom struggle and reveals important details about oppression and resistance in Tibet.
“Therefore, the path the Chinese have laid for us to walk in the meantime is like an ‘invisible dagger,’ Against which we are presumed to have not many alternative strategies.”
Despite being a truly Tibetan voice, in some measure, it is reminiscent of Frantz Fanon’s ‘Wretched of the Earth’ for its power to awaken the consciousness of both the oppressed and the oppressor, which only highlights the universality of human resistance. In one sense, the letter also reflects the Tibetan Buddhist liberation theology, the idea that that freedom is possible through understanding the true meaning of Tibetan Buddhism.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released today a short documentary film on Tibetan immolations that have captured the conscience of many around the world.
Since 2009 in Tibet, 95 Tibetans have burned their bodies to protest against increasing oppression under Chinese rule, calling for the return of their spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet. They also called for religious freedom, language rights, equality and freedom in Tibet. Some died at mining sites protesting resource extraction, desecration of sacred land and undermining Tibetan spiritual traditions and belief system. Pema Dorjee, the 93rd Tibetan who died of protest self-immolation called for Tibetan land to be governed by Tibetans.