A Tibetan woman has died after setting herself on fire in protest against China’s repressive policies on 27 August 2015, according to information received by TCHRD. Tashi Kyi, age 55, self-immolated on the night of 27 August 2015 and died the next day, 28 August 2015. She was from Ngulra Village in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County, Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. “As soon as Tibetans saw her ablaze, they tried to save her by putting out the fire. Unfortunately, they couldn’t save her. She died early morning the next day, at around 3 am,” a source told …

  Chinese security forces have detained at least 10 Tibetan residents of Chumey Village in Nyakla Township in Nangchen (Ch: Nangqian) County, Yulshul (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, according to exile Tibetan sources. The arrests were made after Tibetans from the village staged a peaceful protest, calling for an equal distribution of welfare benefits provided by the government for Tibetan families. These government benefits, as the Nangchen County Economic Development Council announced recently, include projects to build new houses and provide scholarships to students in the village. However, about 100 Tibetans from Nangchen were refused the welfare benefits, …

Against the backdrop of the legal reforms that took place in 2014 aiming to make courts less corrupt, there has been an unprecedented crackdown on human rights lawyers in the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Approximately 120 lawyers, and more than 50 support staff, family members and activists, have been rounded up and arrested across the country since the morning of 9 July 2015. This recent crackdown has been remarkable in its speed, geographic extent and the number of people targeted, which include nearly all of the PRC’s civil rights lawyers. The US State Department has condemned these detentions, noting …