Chinese authorities have detained incommunicado a Tibetan monk, Pema, from the local Kirti Monastery in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province in the Tibetan province of Amdo for staging a peaceful solo protest against repressive policies while holding a portrait of the Dalai Lama on the stretch of a road known to the local Tibetans as ‘martyrs road’.
Tibetan human rights defender Tsering Tso was arbitrarily detained for the second time in three years due to her outspoken social media posts condemning Chinese authorities for engaging in racially discriminatory practices and human rights violations against Tibetans in Kyegudo (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
The Yushu Public Security Bureau (PSB) sentenced Tso to 15 days of “administrative detention,” imprisoning her in the Yushu city detention centre from 26 October to 10 November 2023.
A Tibetan singer named Palden has been sentenced on an unknown date a few months after his detention earlier this year in Golog (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
While details on Palden’s imprisonment still remain vague, it has emerged that the singer was apprehended after he shared a patriotic Tibetan song on the Chinese social media platform KuaiShou. He was held in an undisclosed location for an extended period of time before getting sentenced on unknown charges.
The release of writer Dhi Lhaden after four years of imprisonment raises concerns regarding his physical and mental well-being, exacerbated by the limited accessibility of information about his current situation. Having endured two years of incommunicado detention since 2019, he was charged with “disrupting social order,” a common accusation against human rights activists, and secretly sentenced to four years in 2021. Despite his expected release this year, it was delayed by two months, perceived as a result of cautious measures by Chinese authorities to control information flow. Lhaden’s unjust trial, preceded by isolation, potential coercion, and torture, further adds complexity. As a former monk and writer, his works illuminated the Tibetan perspective, encompassing hopes, wishes, and the overall plight.
Every year on 26 June, the United Nations observes the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, explicitly focusing on torture’s lasting generational impact and consequences. Recognising torture as the deliberate infliction of severe physical and mental suffering without justification, the United Nations General Assembly designated this day as an urgent call to eliminate this abhorrent practice, serving as a platform to promote the eradication of torture and to urge governments worldwide, including China, to fulfil their obligations under the UN Convention Against Torture. Recent cases, such as the severe torture endured by a Tibetan monk and the testimonies of Dorje Tashi, shed light on the systematic use of torture by Chinese authorities to suppress freedom of expression and assembly. These distressing incidents underscore the pressing need for the international community to take a firm stand and demand an immediate end to all acts of torture against Tibetans in Tibet.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) strongly condemns the sentencing of two monks, Tenzin Dhargay and Rigtse, to prison for merely exercising the right to freedom of expression, a right protected in the Chinese Constitution as well as in major international human rights instruments that the government of People’s Republic of China is party to.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) confirmed that Gō Sherab Gyatso also known as Gosher was sentenced to 10 years in prison by the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court a month ago, following news of the sentencing that surfaced on social media on Human Rights Day last Friday.
Thousands of Tibetans are being subjected to China’s social media purge to remove so-called illegal contents from their homes and cell phones in Wonpo (Ch: Wenbo) and Sershul (Ch: Shiqu) counties in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the unjust sentencing of Tibetan writer Lhaden (Pen-name: Dhi Lhaden) to four years in prison and calls on the Chinese authorities to end all restrictions on free speech and dissent in Tibet.
A strict ban on religious activities has been imposed recently on all former and current Party members and cadres in Golok (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
The situation of the Tibetans arbitrarily detained in Dza Wonpo in Sershul (Ch: Shiqu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham from late August is difficult with poor detention facilities, daily interrogations, and political education sessions.