machu – TCHRD

18/12/2017 News

Tibetan man bedridden for years due to torture injuries while Chinese authorities refuse school admission to his daughter

Shonu Palden on hospital bed in a photo taken in October 2017

Chinese authorities released a Tibetan man from prison before the completion of his term to avoid responsibility for his imminent death due to torture injuries. Meanwhile his daughter has been refused school admission because her father had engaged in political activities in the past.

Shonu Palden, 40, was released on 24 July 2013 before the completion of his prison term. He was released early, having served only a little over a year of his two years and nine months sentence, because continued incarceration would have led to his death in prison. Since his early release, he has undergone two massive surgeries in a local hospital to treat various health complications including a serious heart condition he developed in detention. He suffers from blocked arteries, weak eyesight, and breathing and hearing problems.

17/11/2017 News

China issues vague and overbroad rules on internet censorship in Tibet

Censorship rules issued by Machu County Internet Police

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has obtained a copy of a Chinese government document that announces the implementation of vague and broadly defined rules on internet censorship in Tibet.

Issued for public notice by the Machu (Ch: Maqu) County Public Security Bureau (PSB) located in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, the document in Tibetan contains a list of instructions to online chat group administrators and owners of public online accounts on how to conduct self-censorship.

The notice, that took effect on 8 October, contains rules that are local version of two new regulations released on 7 September by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC). Both the “Management Regulations on Online Public Accounts” and “Management Regulations on Internet Groups” provide that the regulations were passed to “promote the healthy and orderly development of online community” and “uphold the socialist core values.”

To be implemented by the Machu County Internet Police, the notice orders all online chat group administrators and owners of public online accounts to be responsible for “strictly regulating” their group members and the information they post. They are also made responsible for strictly preventing the spread of ‘illegal’ contents on the internet. The notice covers all online groups such as those that provide information including text, picture, audio and video to the public through any registered online platform as well as online chat groups, social media, and instant messaging apps.

26/12/2016 News

Tibetan monk likely detained in connection with recent self-immolation

14/12/2016 News

China detains four Tibetans linked to self-immolation videos, self-immolator’s wife subjected to severe interrogation and intimidation

Information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) indicates that local authorities have subjected several known Tibetans including family members, relatives and eyewitnesses to arbitrary detention and severe interrogation following the self-immolation protest staged by Tashi Rabten on 8 December in Machu (Ch: Maqu) County, Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

12/04/2016 News

China’s ill-advised development policy led to protest by Tibetan graduates

Tibetan graduates hold banner with the slogan: “Reform public sector employment practices by blocking outside graduates!”

A group of Tibetan graduates staged a peaceful protest against unfair dismissals from jobs that later ended in detention in Machu (Ch: Maqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, in Tibet’s Amdo province. The protest took place at around 3:30 pm local time on 8 April 2016 in front of the county government office. About 29 graduates took part in the protest holding a banner in Tibetan and Chinese that read: “Reform public sector employment practices by blocking outside graduates!”

Local police later broke up the protest and detained the protesters at the county detention centre. At 3 am the next day on 9 April, the police officers summoned the parents of the protesters to the detention centre to warn them before releasing the protesters. Sources with contacts in Tibet reported that while in detention, the protesters has been beaten up and intimidated. Parents of the protesters were warned against storing or sharing any pictures or information related to the protest on their mobile phones failing which they would be jailed for three to four years.

02/12/2014 News

Two Tibetan artists receive harsh sentences, severe fines for creation of Tibetan music

Singer Kelsang Yarphel sentenced to four years in prison

Two prominent members of the Tibetan folk music industry have been given harsh prison sentences and heavy fines for their involvement in the making of Tibetan folk music in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, according to sources in Tibet.

On 27 November, well-known folk singer and music producer Pema Rigzin and famed singer Kelsang Yarphel were sentenced together to lengthy prison sentences and given severe fines by the Intermediate People’s Court in Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

Pema Rigzin, 44, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison and a severe fine of 50,000 yuan for composing, releasing, and distributing music with alleged political overtones. Rigzin was detained on 7 May 2013 in Chengdu city, and held incommunicado until the 27 November trial. Though family members were allowed to attend the trial, they were barred by authorities from hiring Rigzin a lawyer.

31/03/2014 News

Goshul Lobsang tortured with pain-inducing injections, leaves a defiant note after untimely death

Goshul Lobsang at his home a few weeks before his death

New information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) indicates that Goshul Lobsang, who recently died of torture injuries, might have received injections designed to cause and exacerbate his pain while he was being tortured in detention. The use of torture methods to increase pain is consistent with other Chinese torture tactics. For example, the Chinese adopted Soviet torture techniques to inflict pain faster.[i]

A source who hails from the same village as Goshul Lobsang told TCHRD that Goshul Lobsang was arrested on 29 June 2010[ii] by Machu County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers. For about 5 months he was subjected to severe torture including pain-inducing injections, and deprived of sleep and food by the interrogation officers in Machu County.

Another source told TCHRD that police officers used sharp-pointed objects such as toothpicks to repeatedly pierce and penetrate into the tops of his finger nails and cuticles. This stabbing, applied with force and consistency, resulted in severe bleeding, swelling and pain making Goshul Lobsang unable to temporarily use his hands.

21/03/2014 News

Tibetan political prisoner on ‘medical parole’ dies of torture injuries

Goshul Lobsang at his home soon after his release on 'medical parole' — Goshul Lobsang at his home soon after his release on ‘medical parole’

A Tibetan political prisoner released on ‘medical parole’ before the completion of his sentence has died after succumbing to torture injuries he suffered at the hands of prison authorities.

Goshul Lobsang, 42, died on 19 March 2014 at his home at Bhelban (Ch: Awancang) Township in Machu (Ch: Maqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu Province.

“The Chinese police and prison authorities brutally tortured him in detention and in prison. He suffered death-threatening injuries as a result. Since the authorities feared that he might die in prison, they decided to release him on medical parole, before he was to complete his full sentence. He was released on 27 October 2013,” said a source with contacts in Tibet.

25/09/2013 News

Tibetan poet found detained after months of disappearance

Cover of Tsol (Eng: Search), a poetry collection authored by Lobsang Namgyal who had been detained since May 2012. — Cover of Tsol, a poetry collection authored by Lobsang Namgyal who had been detained since May 2012.

A Tibetan man who authored a book of poetry was found detained nine months after his disappearance from his work place in Chengdu city in Sichuan Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, Lobsang Namgyal, 26, was secretly detained sometime around 15 May 2012 from Buddha Cultural Centre, where he was working as a part-time employee in Chengdu. For months, his family members and relatives made many attempts to find him but to no avail. Local sources cite unsubstantiated information that he was picked up by Public Security Bureau officers from the centre.

Under the pseudonym Sangmig (Eng: Secret Eye), Lobsang Namgyal had authored a collection of poetry titled Tsol (Eng: Search) in which he wrote about his life’s goals and about the state of fellow Tibetans. In February 2013, sources learned that he was being held at a detention centre in Chengdu.

09/08/2013 News

China detains Tibetan singer for ‘politically subversive’ song

Singer Kelsang Yarphel, about 37, detained for singing "politically subversive" song at a musical concert. — Singer Kelsang Yarphel, about 37, detained for singing “politically subversive” song at a musical concert.

A well-known Tibetan singer was detained last month in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on suspected charges of singing a “politically-subversive” song at a music concert.

According to information received by TCHRD, Kelsang Yarphel, about 37, was detained at around 14 July 2013 in Lhasa and taken to a detention centre in Chengdu city in Sichuan Province where he remains now.

Sources from Tibet said that in October and November 2012, Kelsang Yarphel and some other Tibetan musicians and singers organised a music concert called Khawei Metok. At the concert, Kelsang Yarphel performed a song titled Bhodpa Tso (Fellow Tibetans) whose lyrics were deemed ‘politically subversive’ by the Chinese authorities. The DVDs made out of the songs performed at the concert were distributed distributed widely in Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. A month later, the Chinese authorities enforced a ban on the sale and distribution of the DVD many of which were confiscated.

20/08/2012 News

Official notice warns against immolations, flammable liquids at Machu Horse-racing Festival

Security presence at the Machu racing festival

Hundreds of armed forces, particularly the People’s Armed Police, were deployed at the immensely popular annual horse-racing festival at Machu (Chinese: Maqu) county in Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, on 12 August this year, as local authorities were apprehensive of Tibetans staging protests and self-immolations at the public event.