Chinese authorities have sentenced nine Tibetans to varying terms of six to 14 years in connection with the 80th birthday celebration of the Nobel Peace laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
A Tibetan monk has been released after serving four years in prison for hoisting Tibetan national flag and distributing leaflets in Wonpo (Ch: Wenbo) Township in Sershul (Ch: Shiqu) County, Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
A Tibetan monastery with over 300 years of history has been shut down indefinitely after Chinese authorities attempted to impose its own choice of reincarnation on the monastery in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Shak Rongpo Gaden Dhargyeling Monastery, located in Shakchu (Ch: Xiaqu) Township in Nagchu County, has been under intense pressure and restriction since 2010 when local authorities arrested and sentenced a senior spiritual teacher, Lama Dawa Rinpoche, to seven years in prison on charges that he contacted His Holiness the Dalai Lama during the search for the ninth reincarnation of Rongpo Choeje, the head lama of the monastery. The previous eighth incarnation of Rongpo Choeje passed away on 14 August 1999. The first Rongpo Choeje founded the monastery under the guidance of the fifth Dalai Lama some 300 years ago.
According to information received by TCHRD, out of 113 big and small monasteries in Nagchu Prefecture, Shak Rongpo Monastery has been blacklisted among the top group of reactionary monasteries, undeserving of any measure of official leniency.
As Tibetans in Tibet mourn the loss of lives in self-immolation protests by observing a quiet Losar (Tibetan New Year), the Chinese authorities are ordering Tibetans to celebrate the festival by announcing huge rewards, and punishments for those who disobey the order.
According to information received by TCHRD, days prior to Losar, which began 11 February, Chinese officials in Tsolho (Ch: Hainan) Prefecture, Qinghai Province, were seen visiting Tibetan villages in the area, ordering the Tibetans to celebrate the New Year.
Officials announced that villagers would be rewarded handsomely if they celebrate the New Year. They warned that those Tibetans who did not celebrate would be deprived of financial help for farming and animal husbandry.
Four monks from Gyalrong Tsodun Monastery have been sentenced to long prison terms by the Barkham Intermediate People’s Court in Barkham (Ch: Ma’erkang), capital of Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
According to reliable information received by TCHRD, Namsey, 18, was sentenced to 10 years while Yarphel, 18, was handed six years’ imprisonment. Two other Tsodun monks, Lobsang Sangay, 19, and Asong, 22, were sentenced to two years, and two years and six months respectively. The sentences were passed in the middle of this month.
A disciplinary head of Amdo Jachung Monastery in Bayen County, Tsoshar Prefecture, Qinghai Province has been expelled for failing to comply with the officials of “patriotic education” campaign, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
On 27 June, a team of officials from Religious Affairs Bureau of Bayen (Ch: Hualong) Hui County under Tsoshar (Ch: Haidong) Prefecture, Qinghai Province and the County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials arrived at Amdo Jachung Monastery to carry out “patriotic education” campaign now euphemistically called by the name of “Legal Education” session. According to source, the officials ordered the disciplinary head of Amdo Jachung Monastery, Lobsang Tsultrim, to call for monks to assemble for the “legal education” to be conducted in the monastery.
Scores of Tibetans led by monks from Drepung and Sera Monastery were known to have been arrested for staging peaceful pro-Tibet protests in the Tibetan Capital, Lhasa, yesterday coinciding with the 49th anniversary of the 1959 People’s Uprising against Chinese occupation of Tibet, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
According to sources within Tibet, about three hundred monks from Drepung Monastery, located on the outskirts of the capital, attempted to start a planned peaceful protest march yesterday towards Barkhor Street, Lhasa. However, they were obstructed from proceeding with their peaceful march by a large number of Chinese armed police before reaching Lhasa. Few monks from the group suspected to be the ringleaders were believed to be arrested by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials.