Since the Dalai Lama announced the discovery of the reincarnate Panchen Lama in May 1995, Chinese authorities have waged a brutal campaign against those who openly support him. Lobsang Shakya, a monk at Tashi Lhunpo Monastery – the seat of the Panchen Lama – was among those who refused to denounce the Panchen Lama in favour of the boy chosen…
To strengthen the military power inside Tibet, the Chinese government is reported to have begun forcefully recruiting young Tibetans into army service. At the same time Chinese authorities have commenced mass propaganda on radio and television emphasising the need young Tibetans to join the army after graduation from secondary school, choosing to serve the “nadon” rather than pursuing further study.…
Menlha Kyab, a famous Tibetan comedian and writer from Tsolho (Ch: Hamm) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Tsongon (Ch: Qinghai) Province, was recently reported to have suffered a serious mental breakdown as a result of his imprisomnent for six months. Twenty eight Tibetans including Menlha Kyab were believed to have been detained in June or July 1993, just prior to a visit…
Two monks from Kham were arrested and imprisoned In June this year for pasting Independence wallposters. They have not been seen since. In May 1997, two monks from La Monastery in Lapa township, Zadhe county in Kyekudo, Kham (Ch:Qinghai), pasted wall posters condemning Chinese rule. Some residents feared the repercussions and tore down the posters. In early June 1997, posters…
Lukar Jam‘s prison term is one of the longest-known sentences handed down to a Tibetan Political offender in the last twenty years. It is, however, part of a noticeable pattern of Tibetans who, after spending time in India for reasons of study, pilgrimage or family, are arrested and imprisoned as “spies” for the Tibetan Government-in-Exile on their return to Tibet.…
Dorji Rapten is a 20-year-old monk. He reports since Chinese work-team entered his monastery, one monk has disappeared believed executed or imprisoned – and Dorji has just been released from prison. Dorji Rapten is from Dhayap Magon monastery in Pare township in Dhayap county, Kham (eastern Tibet). He was 11 years old when he joined the monastery. Dorji reports that…
“The worst part of my two years in prison were the times when I had to go out for labour work during summer. While I was in prison there were two construction sites on which we had to work, one was a four-storey building and another was a factory for Tibetan medicine. I shudder now when I think of the…
The nightmare began for twenty year-old monk Yeshi Samien when work teams entered his monastery and ordered him to renounce everything he believed in. When Yeshi refused, threats were made. When he attempted to escape, Yeshi was imprisoned and tortured in six different prisons and detention centres, his suffering made public as a warning to others. He finally managed to…
About four years ago, an airport was built in Kyishong sub-district in Lhoka County. Kyishong is one of the best known places in Tibet for excellent harvests and many Tibetans in this area had to give up their land for construction and thereby lost their means of livelihood. In mid-February 1997, just after Tibetan New Year, expansion of this airport…
Thupten Soepa is from Rame Kyishong town in Lhoka Gongkar county and was a monk at Rame monastery. Thupten reports that on 1 March, 1997, an eight-member work team arrived at the monastery. They started the re-education session and ordered that photographs of the Dalai Lama be taken down. “Initially, none of the monks were willing to meet their demands…
In a collective trial held by the Intermediate People’s Court of the “Tibet Autonomous Region ” on 30 November 1989, Ngawang Woeser was sentenced to a 17-year prison term and subsequent deprivation of political rights for five years. The court verdict pronounced him a “main culprit” in the organisation of a “counterrevolutionary clique” and for “spreading propaganda” and “violating state…