A former Tibetan village leader was released early this month after serving four years in prison. Akhu Gyatak (Ch: Gyadehor), in his mid-60s, returned to his home, accompanied by local security officers in Dowa (Ch: Duowa) Township in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has received conflicting information on the recent sentencing of Tibetan writer, intellectual and blogger Druklo (pen-name: Shokjang) in Thunding (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Exile Tibetan sources claim that Shokjang, 30, has been sentenced to three years in prison by a court in Thunding…
A Tibetan singer has been secretly sentenced to five years in prison following his arbitrary detention in November 2012 in Dowa Township in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
Shawo Tashi, 40, was charged with “distributing photographs of self-immolation protesters; writing last notes left by self-immolation protesters on these photographs; participating in protest against Chinese government and singing patriotic Tibetan songs”, according to information received by TCHRD.
Sources with contacts in Rebkong cannot immediately confirm the exact date of sentencing, however, they believe he is now being imprisoned at a prison in Siling (Ch: Xining) city, capital of Qinghai Province.
Imprisoned Tibetan monk and writer Gartse Jigme in a heartfelt appeal calls on the Chinese government to reach out to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and to listen to the demands articulated by self-immolation protesters, as a first step towards creating a truly harmonious and stable Tibet where respect for Tibetan rights and freedoms would replace oppression and suffering.
This essay appears at the end of the second volume of his book, “Tsenpoi Nyingtop” (The King’s Valour) which was published this month in India after the author was sentenced to five years imprisonment. He is being imprisoned at an undisclosed location.
About the book, Gartse Jigme writes:
While publishing this book, I endured loads of pain. Tears drenched my heart. For the true values of truth, justice, rights, equality, peace and harmony, I sacrificed everything and wrote this book. This [book] is a source of joy to me. It is my hope for the future. The book is not at all meant to prove my heroism. This book is a way out for me to shed tears once for the suffering of my ancestors. The book is not written to prove my scholarly credentials. It is a way out for me to shed tears for the pain and suffering endured by my fellow-countrymen. To be honest, I am not a hero. I am not a scholar. I am not wealthy. I am nothing. Amid the waves of truth and justice, I cried once with the suffering of my fellow countrymen.
By branding Dalai Lama as their enemy and neglecting the demands of self-immolators, they have shown that they consider more than 99% of the Tibetan population as their enemies.
~ Gartse Jigme, imprisoned monk and writer
On 14 May 2013, two days before the launch of Chinese state television broadcaster CCTV’s fifth propaganda film on self-immolations, a Tibetan writer was quietly sentenced to five years in prison for writing a book on the issue of Tibet issue including self-immolation protests.
According to exile Tibetan sources, Gartse Jigme, 36, a writer and monk, was sentenced to prison on 14 May 2013 for authoring a book with political contents by Tsekhog (Ch: Zeku) County People’s Court in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
A senior monk who is also an uncle of a Tibetan self-immolator was sentenced to prison early this month on charges that he carried the ashes of his nephew from Rongwo Monastery to his nephew’s home during a procession last year in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
According to information received by TCHRD, Yarphel, 42, a monk from Yershong Monastery was sentenced to one year and three months in prison. Recent propaganda documents distributed by Chinese authorities had criminalised any kind of processions or rallies that pay tribute to the memory of those who died of self-immolations.
Jigme Gyaltsen, 21, was a monk at Rongwo Monastery in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. He joined Rebkong Monastery at 14. He was born in Kangtsa Village in Yadzi (Ch: Xunhua) County in Tsoshar (Ch: Haidong) Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Jigme Gyaltsen fled Tibet so that he could continue his religious studies in India, and to share the story of his friend and roommate Jamyang Palden, who passed away on 16 September 2012, six months after his self-immolation protest. Jigme Gyaltsen escaped Tibet in September 2012, travelling for one month and 22 days to reach India on 26 December 2012. He speaks to TCHRD:
“On 9 March 2012, Jamyang Palden, my roommate at Rongwo Monastery, set himself ablaze at Dolma Square near our monastery. Minutes after the self-immolation, monks took Jamyang Palden to a secure place in the monastery so that he would not get into the hands of the Chinese police. He was treated at the monastery for some months getting injections on his foot every month. There was not much hope for his survival as most of his body had burnt beyond treatment. Monks took turns to take care of him. He could not talk much and his voice was low. He could not eat much, just some diluted Tsampa porridge and kept saying, ‘My wishes are not fulfilled.’
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.
Amid news of heightened restrictions and increased detention, an uncle of Dorjee Lhundup, a Tibetan farmer who set his body on fire in protest against the Chinese government, was detained recently in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
According sources with contacts in the region, Yarphel, 42, uncle of Dorjee Lhundup, a farmer in his 20s, was detained on the morning of 2 February. Yarphel, a monk at Yershong Monastery, was detained along with fellow monk, Rabyang. Both were taken to the local police station and interrogated for long hours.
Chinese authorities have now heightened the campaign to eradicate all avenues of receiving Tibet-related radio and TV news available on foreign channels by issuing a public notice, which announced monetary fines and actions for those who fail to surrender banned satellite dishes and other broadcast equipment by 27 January 2013. The notice, dated 24 January 2013, declared Yuan 5,000 fine and “other consequences” for those who use satellite dishes and other equipments to watch programs on foreign channels.
Chinese Communist Party and government officials are said to be vigorously implementing the contents of the notice in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Restriction is said to be severe in Rongwo Monastery, sources told TCHRD.
The Chinese authorities have stepped up an unprecedented repression in Rong Gonchen Monastery in Rebkong County (Ch: Tongren Xian), after yesterday’s protest, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
Rong Gonchen Monastery is an important Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Rebkong County, Malho (Ch: Huangnan) “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture”, Qinghai Province.
In light of the peaceful protest on 17 April by a group of 22 monks from Rong Gonchen in Rebkong County market, and arrests of over one hundred protesters in the afternoon, the situation has been tense and volatile following the crackdown by the Chinese security forces.