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Lomik speaking at a panel discussion.
Lomik speaking at a panel discussion.

Chinese authorities have detained yet another Tibetan writer who is also a monk in Ngaba area in present-day Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in Tibetan province of Amdo.

Lomik, 27, was detained around 11. 30 pm on 12 April 2015. Lomik’s detention followed the detention of another well-known Tibetan writer Shok-jang on 16 March 2015. Like Shokjang, Lomik is being held at an undisclosed location.

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Ney Kyab, an award-winning activist for non-violence died of self-immolation protest
Ney Kyab, an award-winning activist for non-violence died of self-immolation protest

A Tibetan man known for his non-violence activism self-immolated on the early morning of 16 April 2015 in the courtyard of his house and died. The self-immolation was staged in Adue Gyade Village in Ngaba County in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

According to reliable information received by TCHRD, the layman named Ney Kyab (also known as Damkar) 45, died of self-immolation to protest against China’s repressive policy in Tibet.

“Before burning himself in protest, he arranged the portraits of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama and his family on a makeshift bench, offered them bowls of water and flowers; he then burned himself a few steps away from the makeshift altar,” according to the source.

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File photo: Shok-jang
File photo: Shok-jang

Early this month, exile Tibetan media organizations reported the detention of Tibetan writer Shokjang aka Druk-lo in March this year. Shokjang’s detention was later confirmed when a Tibetan blogger named Jangda from Amdo shared a post on WeChat calling on the release of his writer friend: “My friend [Shok-jang] has not committed crime, bring him back.” According to information received by TCHRD, Shokjang was arrested on 19 March 2015, days after the 56th anniversary of the 10 March Tibetan National Uprising Day of 1959.

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Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche

Today marks the 13th anniversary of Tulku Tenzin Delek’s arbitrary and unjust arrest on 7 April 2002. His arrest eventually led to life imprisonment. Tenzin Delek Rinpoche is a revered Tibetan Buddhist lama from Lithang, Kardze, Kham, in present-day Sichuan Province. He is known for his campaigns to restore Tibetan culture and religion, social welfare activities and his criticism of repressive Chinese policies in Tibet. On 5 December 2002, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and his nephew were respectively sentenced to death with two years’ reprieve and death sentence. They were accused of being involved in a series of bomb attacks in Chengdu on 3 April 2003. Lobsang Dhondup was executed but Rinpoche’s death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment due to pressure from the world community.

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Choephel Dawa
Choephel Dawa

Chinese authorities have detained four Tibetan men including three monks from the embattled Tsenden Monastery in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the Tibetan province of Kham.

According to the information received by TCHRD, local police detained the monks identified as Choephel Dawa, Jigme Wangyal and Choeyang Choega and a layman named Dorjee who were detained on the night of 28 March 2015. No reason was given for their sudden detention. There is no information on the location of their detention raising concerns among family members about their physical and psychological health since torture is routinely practiced in Chinese detention centers.

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Tashi Rabten aka Theurang
Tashi Rabten aka Theurang

Tashi Rabten is a Tibetan writer and poet  in the Tibetan province of Amdo, present-day Sichuan Province. He was released last year in March after serving a four-year sentence at Mianyang Prison in Sichuan. He was a student at the North-West University for Nationalities and wrote for the now-banned Tibetan language journal Shar Dungri (‘Eastern Conch Mountain’) and also published Trag-yig (‘Blood Letters’), a compilation of his poems, notes and writings on the situation in Tibet following the 2008 protests.

In a recent conversation that is being circulated on various social media sites, Tashi Rabten talks about his experiences as a university student and political prisoner, and his newfound faith in the power of poetry.

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Lobsang Dawa
Lobsang Dawa

Chinese authorities are holding Lobsang Dawa, 38, a monk from Tsenden Monastery, at an undisclosed location because he is believed to have kept banned contents on his mobile messaging service in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

According to exile Tibetan media sources, Lobsang Dawa was detained on the night of 20 March from his monastic quarter and taken into police custody without any explanation. The monk’s whereabouts remains unknown.

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Ngawang Gyaltsen was found detained after he was disappeared for a month.
Ngawang Gyaltsen was found detained after he was disappeared for a month.

Ngawang Gyaltsen, 41, a monk and accomplished thangka artist has been found secretly detained at a detention centre in Nagchu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Local Chinese police detained Ngawang Gyaltsen on 24 February this year without the knowledge of his family members who thought he had disappeared. Sustained efforts by local Tibetans in the area led to the revelation that the monk has been in police custody since his detention in Nagchu area.

No one knows the exact reason behind the monk’s detention.

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Ngawang Gyurmey in a photo taken soon after his release from prison
Ngawang Gyurmey in a photo taken soon after his release from prison

As Tsenden Monastery reels under a severe crackdown with the number of cases of arbitrary detention peaking since 2013, a former monk of the monastery has been released after completing a 15-year prison sentence in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

On 20 March this year, Ngawang Gyurmey, a well-known monk from the embattled Tsenden Monastery was released at about 1.30 pm (local time) after he had served a fixed prison term of 15 years in Chushur Prison in the outskirts of Lhasa city.

Family members of Ngawang Gyurmey are worried that he may not survive long due to poor health. They fear he will meet the same fate as Tenzin Choewang a fellow monk who was released but died after being bedridden for three years due to beatings and torture suffered in prison. Another monk Yeshi Tenzin had also died after three months of his release. Both were arrested with Ngawang Gyurmey in March 2000.

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Namgyal Tsultrim, a monk at Tsenden Monastery, has been detained for the third time since 2011.
Namgyal Tsultrim, a monk at Tsenden Monastery, has been detained for the third time since 2011.

Chinese police detained seven Tibetan monks from Tsenden Monastery in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The monks were detained on 14 March, which coincided with the 2008 uprising anniversary when Tibetans protested against the Chinese government in Lhasa igniting widespread demonstrations in many parts of Tibet, according to information received by TCHRD.

The detained monks are identified as Namgyal Tsultrim, Lodoe Tenzin, Tsultrim Gojhey, Tsultrim Namgyal, Thabkey Lhundup, Jigme Tsultrim, and Jigme Drakpa. The police gave no reason for their detention. However, local Tibetans suspect that the monks were detained for sharing information and images related to incidents in Tibet. As of now, information regarding their condition, location of their detention and actual reason for their detention remain unknown.

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Photo: OHCHR
Photo: OHCHR

From 9-13 March, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) had a team of two researchers at regular session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC). Mr. Tenzin Nyinjey and Mr. John Gaudette, two senior researchers of the TCHRD participated at the ongoing UN Human Rights Council in Geneva under the name of International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR). This is the second consecutive HRC regular session that TCHRD has sent a team to. At the previous session in September 2014, TCHRD’s Executive Director, Ms. Tsering Tsomo, raised the situation in Tibet.

This year the TCHRD team built upon the work from September 2014. TCHRD’s team met with assistants for the Special Rapporteurs on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, the right to health, and the right to education. TCHRD also met with a representative from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). At all of these meetings TCHRD gave briefings on the situation in Tibet and provided digital and paper copies of TCHRD’s 2014 Annual Report and special reports on the right to health and the right to education. During the meetings the representatives of the Special Rapporteurs and the OHCHR said they would act on the situation in Tibet as permitted by the limits of their respective mandates. TCHRD also participated in a panel discussion with the Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief on Friday.

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