Self Immolation – Page 4

17/08/2013 News

Tibetan man sentenced to death over wife’s self-immolation

Dolma Kyab (Ch: Drolma Gya) sentenced to death over wife's self-immolation. Photo: Xinhua — Dolma Kyab (Ch: Drolma Gya) sentenced to death over wife’s self-immolation. Photo: Xinhua

In a deepening crackdown on self-immolation protests, Chinese authorities in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, have given death sentence to a Tibetan man for allegedly killing his wife.

Dolma Kyab, 32, was handed death penalty more than five months after the death of his wife, Kunchok Wangmo, 29, in Dzoege (Ch: Rue’rgai) County in Ngaba Prefecture, according to a Xinhua report carried on the official Chinese website of china.org.cn and Global Times.

The report said Dolma Kyab strangled his wife to death at 11 pm on 11 March 2013 following an argument over his drinking problem. He then burned his wife’s body early next morning to make it look like she committed self-immolation, the report claimed quoting court authorities. Mr. Kyab is the sole bread earner in his family which consists of his eight-year-old daughter and his aged mother .

However, exile Tibetan sources had reported that Kunchok Wangmo died of self-immolation protest on 13 March 2013 on the main street of Dzoege County town. A day later, on 14 March, Dolma Kyab was detained after he refused to follow official orders to blame the death of his wife on domestic problems.

22/07/2013 News

Teenage monk dies of burning protest; fate of body unknown

Kunchok Sonam, 18, died of burning protest at Soktsang Village in Thangkor Township in Dzoege County. — Kunchok Sonam, 18, died of burning protest at Soktsang Village in Thangkor Township, Dzoege County.

A Tibetan monk, Kunchok Sonam, 18, died after setting himself on fire to protest China’s repressive policy in Dzoege (Ch: Ru’ergai) County in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

According to information received by TCHRD, on the morning of 20 July, Kunchok Sonam, a monk at Tashi Thekchokling Monastery in Dzoege County set himself alight and died shortly. Sources say the young monk had just finished his morning prayers and was on his way out of the monastery when he burned himself up in protest at around 8.30 am.

Sources quote eyewitness accounts as saying that some fellow monks saw Kunchok Sonam on fire with both his hands clasped in a praying gesture. No one could make out the slogans he were shouting due to the strong flames. As soon as he fell on the ground, monks went near him but he had already died with his hands still folded in a praying gesture.

20/07/2013 News

Refugee Testimony: Former disciple of disappeared Buddhist scholar escapes Tibet

Tenzin Dawa (name changed), 36, is a Tibetan monk from Barmi Monastery in Tsongru (Ch: Chonger) Township of Dzoege (Ch: Ru’ergai) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. Dzoege County has witnessed at least seven confirmed self-immolation protests so far.

Tenzin Dawa reached India early this month. He is also a former disciple of Gyen Kunchok Nyima, a Buddhist scholar and teacher at Drepung Monastery who went missing since April 2008 after his detention and subsequent sentencing to 20 years in prison. Tenzin Dawa says there are many disciples of Gyen Kunchok Nyima looking for information about the whereabouts of their teacher. No one knows where the Buddhist scholar is imprisoned or whether he is alive.

In his testimony to TCHRD, Tenzin Dawa recounts the current situation inside Tibet in particular his hometown in Dzoege where local Chinese authorities have planted spies in every village to monitor conversations and keep a strict watch over Tibetan activities, in an ongoing effort to prevent self-immolation and other protests.

The testimony also contains details on how Chinese authorities attempted to pressure local Tibetans to sign an official order that forbids any kind of activities to support or sympathise with self-immolation protests.

18/07/2013 News

China sentences Tibetan monk to 10 yrs in prison

Tsultrim Kalsang, 26, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. — Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

A Tibetan monk from the restive Nyatso Zilkar Monastery has been sentenced to 10 years in prison in Dzatoe (Ch: Zaduo) town, Tridu (Ch: Chenduo) County in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, Tsultrim Kalsang, 25, received a 10-year sentence in prison on ‘intentional homicide’ charges, a charge used frequently by the Chinese authorities to crack down on self-immolation protests and to persecute critics of Chinese policy in Tibet.

On 12 July 2013, at around 8 am, an Intermediate People’s Court in Xining sentenced Tsultrim Kalsang to 10 years in prison.

Local sources say Tsultrim Kalsang’s charges are possibly related to the twin self-immolation protest carried out by two Tibetan youths in Dzatoe township on 30 June 2012. Both Ngawang Norphel, 22, and Tenzin Khedup, 24, died of their injuries.

18/06/2013 News

Nun dies of self-immolation, family placed under house arrest

An undated photograph of nun Wangchen Dolma

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 119^th 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.

05/06/2013 News

Two monks sentenced to 3 yrs in prison for holding prayers for self-immolator

Tsondue and Gedun Tsultrim in their prison uniform meet family members and relatives after the court trial

The relentless crackdown on self-immolation protests in Tibet continued when Chinese authorities sentenced two Tibetan monks to three years in prison for holding religious rituals and prayer services for a Tibetan man who died of self-immolation protest in November last year in Kangtsa Township in Yadzi (Ch: Xunhua) Salar Autonomous County in Tsoshar (Ch: Haidong) Prefecture, Qinghai Province. The Chinese authorities deemed this exercise of the monks’ fundamental rights criminal pursuant to a 2012 guideline on handling self-immolations.

Wangchen Norbu, 25, died during a self-immolation protest on 19 November last year. As he burned, Wangchen Norbu called for an end to Chinese repression and demanded the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, freedom in Tibet, and the release of the 11^th Panchen Lama, and all the Tibetan political prisoners.

30/05/2013 News

My words are not tainted by lies and deception: Gartse Jigme

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.

21/05/2013 News

Tibetan writer sentenced to 5 yrs in prison for writing book on self-immolation

Gartse Jigme, monk and writer, sentenced to five years in prison

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.

25/04/2013 News

Two Tibetan monks die of self-immolation protest

Konchok Woeser, 23, died after setting himself on fire in protest against Chinese government.

Despite extreme measures implemented by the Chinese authorities to crack down on self-immolation protests, burning protests in Tibet continue unabated as two more Tibetans died yesterday after setting themselves on fire on the eve of the 24^th birthday of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, Tibet’s XIth Panchen Lama, one of the most important Tibetan spiritual leaders who was disappeared along with his parents by the Chinese authorities almost 18 years ago.

According to confirmed information received by TCHRD, at around 6.40 pm on 24 April 2013, two monks of Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery set themselves on fire and died in Dzoege (Ch: Ruergai) County in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

15/04/2013 News

China confirms sentencing four Tibetans for “inciting separatism”

A Chinese court in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, has sentenced four Tibetans to varying prison terms for “inciting separatism”.

The Malho Intermediate People’s Court in Thunding and Tsekhog County sentenced Choepa Gyal, Chagthar, Namkha Jam and Gonbey (probably Gonpo or Konbey) on an unspecified date, according to a report published by the official Qinghai Daily News on 12 April 2013. (Please click here for the report in Chinese)

The report said Choepa Gyal was sentenced to six years in prison and three years’ deprivation of political rights for sending photographs and information related to Tibetan “separatism” to outsiders through QQ (Chinese internet chat service) and for discussing “separatist-related” subjects on the internet chat site, and thus “inciting secession”.

30/03/2013 News

Burning protests continue against Chinese repression in Tibet

A monk from Mogri Sampheling Monastery, commonly known as Mogri Monastery died of self-immolation protest in Mogri Village of Samtsa Township in Luchu (Ch: Luqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.

According to reliable information received by TCHRD, Konchok Tenzin, 28, a monk from Mogri Monastery set himself on fire at around 7 pm (local time) on 26 March near his monastery and died. The burning protest took place at the main intersection called Den Lungdo located on the main road leading to the monastery.