Tag: death in detention

Nyima Lhamo holds a copy of “Unjust Sentence”, TCHRD’s special report on Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. [AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia]
Nyima Lhamo, the 26-year old niece of Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche fled Tibet and arrived in India on 24 July, more than a year after her uncle’s death in a Chinese prison. Nyima fled Tibet leaving behind her family including her six-year old daughter Dawa Dolma and 53-year old ailing mother Dolkar Lhamo in Dekyi Village in Lithang (Ch: Litang) County, Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.

Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was a popular and revered reincarnate lama who died in prison serving life imprisonment. He was in his 13th year of imprisonment when he died on 12 July 2015 at Chuandong Prison in Dazhu County in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. Despite sustained and widespread appeal from the international community, Chinese authorities have failed to launch an investigation into Rinpoche’s death. No death certificate has been issued yet. Chinese state media claimed that he died of heart attack in the Dazhu County People’s Hospital near the prison.

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Gyaye Phuntsok
Gyaye Phuntsok

A former political prisoner died at the age of 84 after years of house arrest and poor health caused by injuries sustained during more than two years of detention in Chabcha (Ch: Gonghe) County, Tsolho (Ch: Hainan)  Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in Tibet’s Amdo province.

Gyaye Phuntsok died last Monday at about 1 am local time after prolonged illness at his home in Gyaye Village in Chabcha. He was 68 when he was first detained in August 1998 by a group of Qinghai state security officers and armed police. In a subsequent raid at his home, the police seized a portrait of the Dalai Lama and a Tibetan history book. He was later charged with engaging in separatist activity and held in detention for two years. In 2000, when he was released, his health had deteriorated to the point that he was later confined to his bed for years until his death. One of the conditions for his release was that he will be put under house arrest for the next 10 years. In 2012, his health deteroriated further when he met with an accident. Efforts to seek treatments failed and his health did not improve.

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) submitted an alternative report to UN Committee Against Torture ahead of its review of the Fifth Periodic Report of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Convention Against Torture). The Convention Against Torture prohibits torture and…

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is deeply shocked and saddened by the unexpected death of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, aged 65 years old, serving a life imprisonment at Chuandong Prison near Chengdu city, capital of Sichuan Province in People’s Republic of China (PRC). The arrest and sentencing of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and his disciple Lobsang Dhondup demonstrates the Chinese government’s blatant disregard of fundamental human rights for Tibetans and is in violation of both international law and domestic Chinese laws.

There were many problems that took place throughout the legal process for both Rinpoche and Dhondup, from their arbitrary arrests, to their unjust sentencing in Chinese courts and their treatment following their criminal trials. This includes: the arbitrary nature of their arrests; the denial of adequate and fair legal defense for the detainees; the lack of adequate and concrete evidence to support their convictions; the absence of presumption of innocence during their criminal trials; closed and unfair trials; the use of coercive interrogation and torture on the detainees; the denial of visitation rights for the detainees; the denial of the right to be informed for the detainee’s families; arbitrary arrest and sentencing of relatives of the detainees; and, the quick implementation of Dhondup’s execution sentence lessened the chances for Rinpoche to receive a fair retrial.

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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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Annual Report English CoverOn 7 February 2015 the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) released its 2014 Annual Report on human rights situation in Tibet. The report is available in English, Tibetan, and, for the first time, Chinese.

The Annual Report demonstrates that despite the promised reforms, the human rights situation in Tibet is continuing to deteriorate. In particular, the Annual Report highlights death in detention, collective punishment, and restrictions on the right to freedom of assembly and association. In all three areas the treatment of Tibetans has deteriorated substantially.

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Tenzin Choedak
Tenzin Choedak

Tenzin Choedrak, a Tibetan social activist died two days after his release from prison at the age of 34. He was serving a 15-year prison term for acting as a ringleader of the March 2008 protests in Lhasa, Tibet [1].

When he was returned to his family, Choedrak had dislocated jawbones and damaged kidneys. He was physically emaciated and vomiting blood because of a brain injury. All the bones in his feet were broken. This suggests that he may have been subjected to the falaka, or foot whipping, torture technique. The falaka involves beating the sole’s of the victim’s feet with a heavy cable or whatever else is available. It causes extreme pain up the victim’s body and the feet to swell. The technique was used in the PRC, the Middle East, and Romania.[2]

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Senior Buddhist scholar Geshe Ngawang Jamyang was beaten to death in police custody less than a month after his arrest in December 2013 in Diru County.
Senior Buddhist scholar Geshe Ngawang Jamyang was beaten to death in police custody less than a month after his arrest in December 2013 in Diru County.

Latest information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) demonstrates escalating violence and crackdowns including extrajudicial killing and arbitrary detentions in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the eastern Tibetan province of Kham.

A source with contacts in Tibet informed TCHRD that a popular and respected village headman became a victim of extrajudicial killings on 21 November on the orders of the local Communist Party authorities. Bachen Gyewa aka Ngawang Monlam, the headman of Ushung Village in Gyashoe Yangshok Township (also known as Sentsa Township) in Diru County was removed from his post, arrested and then killed on the orders of the secretary of the Diru County Party Committee.

The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear but it appears that Bachen Gyewa posed a formidable challenge to the Chinese government’s ongoing ‘stability maintenance’ measures that have been implemented since late 2011.[i] It did not help either that the late village headman was a former monk at the local Pekar Monastery which has witnessed sporadic yet intense demonstration against new religious measures implemented by the Chinese government.

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Former social activist Tenzin Choedak died while still serving his prison sentence in Lhasa.
Former social activist Tenzin Choedak died while still serving his prison sentence in Lhasa.

According to reliable information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a Tibetan political prisoner serving a 15-year prison sentence died yesterday afternoon on 5 December. He was less than six years into his prison term in Chushur Prison near Lhasa city. His death confirms criticisms from human rights groups that torture and inhumane treatment is common in Chinese prisons in Tibet.

Tenzin Choedak, also known as Tenchoe, died just two days after he was released to his family by prison authorities. He died at Mentsekhang, the traditional Tibetan medical institute in Lhasa city, hours after his family admitted him there. Tenzin Choedak had previously worked for a European NGO affiliated to the Red Cross.

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Cao Shunli: Defiant till the end (Photo: Reuters)
Cao Shunli: Defiant till the end (Photo: Reuters)

Chinese human rights activist Cao Shunli (曹顺利) died in a Chinese military hospital on 14 March 2014. Only her family was allowed to view her body. Her brother Cao Yunli said he could not take a second look at his sister’s body that showed signs of her mistreatment during approximately five and half months in detention.

The story of Cao Shunli’s arrest, torture, and death follows the same pattern as the death of Tibetans during detention. She disappeared in September 2013 and appeared in police custody in October 2013 when she was formally arrested and charged with “picking quarrels and provoking troubles.” Before her detention Cao Shunli was in poor health and during her detention she was denied medical care. On 20 February 2014, Cao Shunli was transferred to a military hospital in extremely critical condition. She received a medical parole on 27 February 2014 and died fifteen days later.

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