In previous Human Rights Updates we have profiled some of the hundreds of Tibetan current political prsioners on this page. This year we will be profiling who have sacrificed their life for Tibet; detained as political prisoners, these individuals have died from torture, sickness or prolonged detention.
Geshe Lobsang Wangchuk, a renowned scholar, wrote various treatises on Tibetan history and even quoted from the work of Mao Zedong to prove Tibet’s Independence. He also wrote poems, including one devoted to the Dalai Lama entitled “A Cry of Anguish from the Son Of a Northern Herdsmen.” One of Tibet’s most well known prisoners of conscience, Geshe Lobsang died in Drapchi prison at the age of 73 for advocating Tibet’s freedom.
Geshe Lobsang Wangchuk was born on November 2, 1914, at Amdo Shogchung in Nagchu Province. From the earliest age he showed a great enthusiasm to learn and 1n 192, aged 10, he entered Sangdue Dakar monastery where he received teachings of various schools of Tibetan Buddhism from many learned scholars.
In 1954, he became a chant leader of Sangdue Dakar monastery. At the age of 39 he gave a recitation of Kargyur (Buddhist canon), and thereafter he was popularly known as a Kargyur Lama or Rinpoche. He was also well known for his skillful handwriting and many revered Lamas requested him to write their scriptures.
In 1959, when a Chinese political indoctrination school was opened in Tibet’s northern region, Geshe Lobsang was arrested along with 50 officials without any given reason. On January 21, 1960, he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment and in 1963 he was transferred to Drapchi Prison, Lhasa.
In 1970, although he had completed his prison term, he continued to be held under severe restrictions. He was forced to labour and while cutting rock he lost a finer. In 1979, he was sent to Lhasa’s Nyethang Brick Manufacturing Plant, a Chinese “Re-education- Through-Labour” camp.
While in Nyethang, Geshe Lobsang helped make protest posters condemning Chinese rewriting of Tibetan language, medicine and astrology. At a request from young Tibetans, he wrote a treatise on Tibet’s status as a separate nation.
Before the treatise could be printed, Chinese authorities came to know about it. Geshe Lobsang’s house was raided and the manuscript confiscated. Nevertheless, in 1981 a copy of the manuscript together with Geshe Lobsang’s name was stuck in Lhasa’s market place. Although leading a quiet life in Drepung monastery at the time, Geshe Lobsang was re-arrested on December 3, 1981 and sentenced to three and a half years imprisonment.
While in prison, Geshe Lobsang taught other inmates about the history of Tibet, China’s forcible aggression in Tibet and the looting and murders carried out in Tibet after 1950, and the Tibet-Chinese border demarcation. He also produced 16 points proving Tibet’s independent status. As a result of these activities, Geshe Lobsang had his hands and legs manacled while in detention.
Geshe Lobsang was reported to have submitted appeal letters to both Upper and Lower People’s Court of “TAR” and four other offices. On January 17, 1984, Geshe Lobsang was tried for allegedly attempting to separate Tibet from China. He initially faced a death sentence but this was later reduced to intervention from the Dalai Lama and other international bodies.
Geshe Lobsang was reportedly interrogated in order to “confess” that his views of history regarding Tibet’s independence were mistaken. When Geshe Lobsang failed to “confess” and spoke out about this treatment, he was severely punished by Chinese authorities. He was tortured and kept in solitary confinement for long periods. In February 1987, reports were received that he had been beaten by prison guards with a rifle butt for not pleading ready, breaking his ribs and severely damaging his collar bone.
In 1983, during the visit of the second Tibetan delegation from India to Beijing, the Dalai Lama requested China to release Geshe Lobsang. The official reply denied the existence of such a prisoner. The whereabouts and release of Geshe Lobsang was requested, via the Indian Embassy, for the second time.
This time the official answer stated that he was imprisoned for a crime and that it was impossible to release him. Pressure from the United Nations, other international organisations and the US continued to be exerted on China.
In July 1983, Geshe Lobsang was told that he would be released provided he spent the rest of his life away from political activities and instead assisted in the renovation of Nagchu monastery. Geshe Lobsang responded that Tibet had always been a separate nation from China and that nothing could change that. He added that only when the officials stated in writing that Tibet was independent would be willingly leave prison.
Geshe Lobsang died in Drapchi Prison on November 7, 1987, at the age of 73.