An ailing former Tibetan political prisoner was interrogated for hours and then put under house arrest earlier today by local Chinese authorities in Machu (Ch: Maqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
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.
According to sources inside Tibet, on 11 June, Wangchen Dolma, a nun from Tawu (Ch: Daofu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture self-immolated in protest against Chinese rule.
Wangchen Dolma, 31, committed her self-immolation near Nyatso Monastery Tawu County in the Tibetan province of Kham. She hailed from Dragthog Village in Tawu County and her father’s name is Tenzin and mother’s Youdon.
The Chinese police immediately arrived at the scene of the self-immolation and took her to a local hospital in Dartsedo (Ch: Kangding) in Kardze Prefecture.
Three days later on 14 June around 8 am, she succumbed to her injuries and died.
Wangchen Dolma became the 119th Tibetan and the third from Tawu region to self-immolate in protest of China’s repressive policies.
Sources said the Chinese police refused to give Wangchen Dolma’s body to her family and cremated it.
Almost a month after his release from prison on 24 April 2013, Lobsang Tenzin was finally allowed to see his extended family members and relatives. However, he still remains under house arrest and constant police supervision. He cannot meet non-family members and may only leave his house to go to the hospital with a police escort.
Lobsang Tenzin spent half of his life in Chinese prisons before his release. After initially being sentenced to death Lobsang Tenzin’s sentence was eventually reduced to 18 years in addition to the six he already served.