Tag: nagchu

A prominent former Tibetan political prisoner named Lodoe Gyatso was detained late last month for carrying out a lone protest against Chinese government in Lhasa. He has since been handed over to the Sog (Ch: Suo) County Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). This is Lodoe Gyatso’s second detention following his release from prison after 21 years in 2013.

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Lodoe Gyatso as a young man
Lodoe Gyatso as a young man

Chinese authorities have detained Lodoe Gyatso, a former Tibetan political prisoner who was released from prison three years ago after serving 21 years.

Lodoe Gyatso was arbitrarily detained in Lhasa at around midnight local time on 14 May 2016 for unknown reasons. His family members and relatives have no information on the exact location of his detention.

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Ngawang Gyaltsen was found detained after he was disappeared for a month.
Ngawang Gyaltsen was found detained after he was disappeared for a month.

Ngawang Gyaltsen, 41, a monk and accomplished thangka artist has been found secretly detained at a detention centre in Nagchu Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Local Chinese police detained Ngawang Gyaltsen on 24 February this year without the knowledge of his family members who thought he had disappeared. Sustained efforts by local Tibetans in the area led to the revelation that the monk has been in police custody since his detention in Nagchu area.

No one knows the exact reason behind the monk’s detention.

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Namgyal Tsultrim, a monk at Tsenden Monastery, has been detained for the third time since 2011.
Namgyal Tsultrim, a monk at Tsenden Monastery, has been detained for the third time since 2011.

Chinese police detained seven Tibetan monks from Tsenden Monastery in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). The monks were detained on 14 March, which coincided with the 2008 uprising anniversary when Tibetans protested against the Chinese government in Lhasa igniting widespread demonstrations in many parts of Tibet, according to information received by TCHRD.

The detained monks are identified as Namgyal Tsultrim, Lodoe Tenzin, Tsultrim Gojhey, Tsultrim Namgyal, Thabkey Lhundup, Jigme Tsultrim, and Jigme Drakpa. The police gave no reason for their detention. However, local Tibetans suspect that the monks were detained for sharing information and images related to incidents in Tibet. As of now, information regarding their condition, location of their detention and actual reason for their detention remain unknown.

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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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Tsangyang Gyatso
Tsangyang Gyatso

A senior Tibetan monk who was the chief chant master/presiding priest (Tib: umze) at his monastery has been given 12 years sentence in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.

Tsangyang Gyatso, the former umze of Drilda Monastery, located at Trido Township in Sog County, was sentenced early this month on charges that he “contacted outsiders” and “incited other monks to protest against the Chinese government”, according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

“We learned today [27 October] from our source that it’s been 26 days since Tsangyang Gyatso was sentenced, a source with contacts in Tibet told TCHRD.

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Title page of the temporary regulation passed by Diru County government
Title page of the temporary regulation passed by Diru County government

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) recently published an update on the escalating repression in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the Tibetan province of Kham.[i] The report quoted a source within Tibet who said that in addition to the continuing arrest and disappearance of Tibetans in Diru County for protesting Chinese policies including against mining activities, local government had issued a temporary regulation prohibiting “freedom of movement, speech and religion.”

The report mentioned that failure to abide by these regulations would result in severe punishments for the Tibetans, such as “dismissal from the monastery, cancellation of welfare provisions, and prohibiting the harvesting of the prized caterpillar fungus.” TCHRD has received scanned copies of the Tibetan version of the regulation. Due to the difficulty and risk involved in getting the regulation out of Tibet, TCHRD’s source was unable to scan the complete regulation.

The original regulation includes 4 chapters and 26 articles mainly focusing on the cracking down on separatism, the “Dalai clique”, putting restrictions on participation in religious gathering such as the Kalachakra Empowerment given by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in July 2014 in Ladakh in northern India. The regulation is referred to as “Information Handbook for the Enforcement of Two Separate Regulations issued by Diru County People’s Government” (Tib: diru mimang sizhung gi tenbep khag nyi kyi dril drak lad deb). According to the document, the regulation was passed in June 2014. Its subtitle encapsulates the essence of the regulation: “A temporary regulation on the illegal activities by participating, on one’s own [initiative], in the ‘Great Prayer Festivals’, through crossing the national boundaries, creating and spreading rumors in the public, propagating harmful information, traveling to areas outside of your own locality to [engage in religious] study.”

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Senior Tibetan Buddhist scholar Tenzin Lhundrup arrested and disappeared in May 2014.
Senior Tibetan Buddhist scholar Tenzin Lhundrup arrested and disappeared in May 2014.

A senior Tibetan monk who is an accomplished Buddhist scholar was arbitrarily arrested and disappeared in May 2014 while he was giving a lecture on the “status of Tibetan language and nationality” (Tib. mi rigs dang skad yig ki gnas bab skor) to villagers of Shagchu (Ch: Xiaqu) Town[i] in the restive Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the traditional Tibetan province of Kham.

According to a reliable source, the Chinese police arrested the senior Buddhist scholar Tenzin Lhundrup on Wednesday, the Dalai Lama’s ‘soul day’, from Gom Gonsar Monastery at Lenchu Township in Diru County. It is still unknown on which Wednesday in May he was arrested. The source told TCHRD that at the time of his arrest, the senior Buddhist scholar was giving a lecture on the status of Tibetan language and nationality to the residents of Shagchu Town on the latter’s invitation.

The source added that on every Wednesday, which is celebrated in many parts of Tibet as Lhakar or the ‘soul day’ of the Dalai Lama, Tenzin Lhundrup used to give Buddhist teachings to the local Tibetans, help arbitrate disputes, and advocate vegetarianism. He is known also for zealously advocating the need to preserve Tibetan identity. All of these initiatives had earned him much respect and admiration from the local Tibetans.

Tenzin Lhundrup had been under the radar of Chinese security forces ever since he spearheaded the local opposition to Chinese mining activities at the sacred Naglha Dzamba Mountain in the area last year.[ii] “He regularly gave speeches to the local Tibetans to protect the sacred mountain from Chinese miners, and once he publicly offered scarves to the members of a local committee set up to protect the mountain as mark of respect and appreciation for their resistance against mining,” said the source.

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Choeying Kalden
Choeying Kalden

A Tibetan monk has disappeared after sharing his writings criticizing Chinese rule to the mobile phones of Chinese cadres stationed at Tsenden Monastery in Sog (Ch: Suo) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

Sources told TCHRD that Choeying Kalden, 20, a monk at Tsenden Monastery was detained by Sog County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers on 16 March 2014. The monk had shared his writings among his friends as well as Chinese ‘work team’ members through social media.

It is still not known where he is detained. Local Tibetans believe that he had been taken to Nagchu area although the exact location of his detention is not known.

Choeying Kalden, whose lay name is Athog, hails from Yeggu Village of Yagla (Ch: Yala) Township in Sog County and is the son of Mr Lhakhyil and Mrs Bumsang. He often used to write essays and poems on Tibetan culture and identity under the pseudonym Sog Thug (Eng: ‘Mongolian Child’). Some of his writings have now become available outside Tibet and are being shared through the popular instant messaging app WeChat owned by Chinese company Tencent (see images).

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Tibetan writer Tsultrim Gyaltsen, also known as Shokdril, and his friend Yulgyal, from Diru County, Eastern Tibet, have been sentenced to thirteen and ten years of prison respectively, according to a source from inside Tibet.

They were believed to have been sentenced on 28 October 2013.

On 27 September 2013, in defiance of the Chinese government, Tibetans, including those from Mowa and Monkhyim villages, Diru County, not only refused to fly the Chinese national flags, but also threw them in the Gyalmo Ngulchu (Salween/Nu) river.

Since then, Tibetans in the area have been protesting against the Chinese government policies.

On 28 September 2013, more than a thousand Tibetans gathered and launched hunger strikes throughout the night in front of the offices of the People’s Government in Diru County. 

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