News

A monk from Nyatso Zilkar Monastery has been detained in Zatoe (Chinese: Zaduo) town, Tridu (Chinese: Chenduo) County in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, monk Tenzin Sherab, 28, was arrested at Zatoe town by local security officers around 9 am (Tibet Time), on 1 October 2012, for unknown reasons.

A source with contacts in the area informed TCHRD that the family members of Sherab had approached the local Public Security Bureau office to inquire about the monk’s whereabouts, but had failed to get any information.

Two Tibetan men have been sentenced to seven years 6 months and seven years respectively by an Intermediate People’s Court in Barkham (Chinese: Ma’erkang), capital of Ngaba, Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

A lay Tibetan, Thupdor, 25, was sentenced to seven years and six months for sending information out of Tibet and making contacts with outsiders, a reliable source informs TCHRD. Lobsang Tashi, 26, a monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County, was sentenced to seven years for the same charges. The court in Barkham passed down the sentences on 18 September 2012.

Both men are now serving their sentence at Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province.

The Chinese authorities in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Prefecture, Sichuan Province, have sentenced two teenage Tibetan monks to 11 and 8 years in prison.
In the beginning of September 2012, Lobsang Tsultrim, 19, a monk at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County was sentenced to 11 years in prison, according to a reliable source with close contacts in the region.

Another Kirti Monastery monk, Lobsang Jangchup, 17, was sentenced to 8 years around the same time, according to the source.

In the end of March 2012, both monks were detained from their monastic residence by local security officers on unknown charges. Their families and relatives had no information about their whereabouts until the news of their sentencing, which was received in the end of September 2012.

More details have emerged on the case of Tsering Gyaltsen, 40, a monk from Drango Monastery who was severely beaten and detained by security forces amid the crackdown that followed the 23 January 2012 protest in Drango (Chinese: Luhuo) County in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

On 9 February 2012, Tsering Gyaltsen was severely beaten by security forces and then taken to a hospital in Kardze. A source told TCHRD that Gyaltsen suffered a broken spine from the beatings, and died the same day at the hospital.

“Tsering Gyaltsen died the day he was hospitalized because the doctors could not treat the injuries he suffered during the police beatings,” the source said. “In addition to broken spine, he must have received other serious injuries.”

Shonu, a monk and staff member of Drango Monastery, whose whereabouts were unknown since his arrest in February 2012, is in Mianyang Prison (Sichuan Province), a source with contacts in Tibet informed TCHRD.
According to the source, Shonu, 42, was sentenced in June 2012 to 18 months in prison for charges unknown at this time.
In February 2012, security officers detained Shonu and four other staff members of Drango Monastery at an Internet café in Tridu (Chinese: Chengdu) city, capital of Sichuan Province. The whereabouts of the four monk officials: Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, a reincarnated lama; Geshe Tsewang Namgyal, a teacher and staff member; Thinlay, manager; and Tashi Topgyal aka Dralha, accountant; remain unknown to this day.

Less than a year after his self-immolation protest, Tibetan monk Dawa Tsering is now making good recovery from his burn injuries, but his future remains uncertain, a source with contacts in Tibet tells TCHRD today.

“Dawa Tsering has got his life back and his health condition is quite well,” the source says. “And he longs to return back to his monastery.”

“But his future remains unknown and uncertain because he might not be allowed to return back to his monastery. Instead, he could be jailed at any time,” the source adds.

A Tibetan political prisoner who was released last year after serving a three-year sentence is in poor health with multiple medical complications, reported his niece, Nyidon, in a recent interview with TCHRD.

Born in Kora Township in Karze (Chinese: Ganzi) County, Nyidon escaped into India with an overriding mission: “To tell the story of my uncle to the world” as China continues to keep a tight lid on information coming out of Tibet.

On Saturday, 1 September, China police forces raided Nyitso Zilkar Monastery in Zatoe (Chinese: Zaduo) town, Tridu (Chinese: Chenduo) County in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, and arbitrarily arrested five monks, while dozens were beaten by the People’s Armed Police.

“Around 60 vehicles full of armed police forces raided the Nyitso Zilkar Monastery on Saturday without any explanation, and locals say it’s because of the monastery’s role in preserving and teaching Tibetan language, culture, and Buddhism in the region,” reliable sources in exile told TCHRD this week.

A close cousin of a monk who died of self-immolation was among the two detained recently by Chinese security personnel in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Both Tibetans, a monk and a layman, remain “missing” after they were arbitrarily detained on 27 August in separate incidents, a source tells TCHRD, quoting local Tibetans in the area.

Lobsang Sangyal, around 22, was detained on the night of 28 August from his residence at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba. Sangyal was a close cousin of monk Lobsang Kelsang, 18, who on 27 August died of self-immolation protest. Sangyal hails from Raruwa nomadic village in Ngaba County.

Jayang Khyenkho, 60, was also detained from his home on 28 August for unknown reasons. He belongs to Bharmatsang family at Kanyag nomadic village in Totsig Township, Ngaba County, the same source tells TCHRD quoting local Tibetans in the area.

The democratization process of Tibetan society in exile has been ongoing since the 1960s, with the Dalai Lama as its driving force and architect. This process culminated in the landmark decision of 2011, when the Dalai Lama formally announced his complete withdrawal from political life but also the dissolution of the Ganden Phodrang, Tibet’s historical form of government, to make way for a fully-fledged democratic government, thus marking a new era of Tibetan government with the separation of religion and politics. In August 2011, Dr Lobsang Sangay, a Harvard-educated academic, became the first elected political leader of the Tibetan people. As the Dalai Lama himself said on 19 March 2011: “The rule by kings and religious figures is outdated. We have to follow the trend of the free world, which is that of democracy…Contrary to the system of the Chinese Communist’s authoritarian rule in Tibet, our small community in exile has been able to establish a complete modern democratic system.”