Gonpo Trinley’s laogai prison release order issued by Deyang Prison near Chengdu city, Sichuan Province.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has received a list of 45 Tibetans from Sichuan Province who were arrested between 2008 and 2009. All of the prisoners on the list were held in Deyang(德阳) Prison, located in Huang Xu Town in Deyang City, Sichuan Province. The list is the latest evidence from Tibet of the harsh measures the Chinese imposed in Tibet during and after the 2008 Tibetan Uprising.
Ten out of 45 are still serving their sentence with two Tibetans serving life sentence. Pema Yeshi, a layman from Nyagri County in Kardze Prefecture initially got death sentence with two years’ reprieve, which was later commuted to life. The list shows 18 former and current prisoners who were not listed in TCHRD Political Prisoners Database.
Cover of the memoir “Raising the Tibetan National Flag in Rebkong”. Inside cover shows a photo of the author.
TCHRD is pleased to announce the launch of a memoir of a former Tibetan political prisoner in Tibetan titled “Raising the Tibetan National Flag in Rebkong”.
The memoir, authored by Tenzin Nyima, is a personal account of his peaceful protest against the Chinese government by raising the banned Tibetan National Flag in his hometown of Rebkong in Tibetan province of Amdo and the subsequent arrest and torture he suffered at the hands of Chinese security forces.
Unable to bear the constant harassment of Chinese police after his release from prison, Tenzin Nyima escaped into exile in India.
Zhou Yongkang, China’s former security czar used the prevailing anti-terror mood or ‘war on terror’ to engage in widespread and systematic abuse of human rights in Tibet [Photo: siweiluozi.net]As part of Chinese president Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign, investigators are being sent to the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) for disciplinary purposes. They will investigate not only official corruption, the focus of the campaign, but also officials who do not follow the central government’s policy of systematically violating human rights in Tibet. Since Xi Jinping was appointed President of the PRC, he has paired reform and repression. The repression has often been disproportionately harsher and longer lasting than the promised reforms, especially in Tibetan areas. The anti-corruption campaign is not an exception to this rule. However, if the goal of the anti-corruption campaign is to address the causes of social unrest, it is doomed to fail unless the government stops supporting the wanton violation of human rights in Tibet.
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.”
Ngagchung of Larung Gar Buddhist Institute of Sertha
A Tibetan monk was released recently after completing a six-year sentence for sharing information about human rights abuses perpetrated by Chinese security forces during the height of 2008 Tibetan uprising in Serthar (Ch: Seda) County, Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
Ngagchung, who was a monk at Larung Gar Buddhist Institute prior to his imprisonment, was released on 8 July 2014 after the completion of his 6-year sentence. He is said to be in poor health and suffers from damaged vision.
No other details are available on the current status and condition of Ngagchung as local authorities in Serthar County have blocked all communication lines including phone and Internet.
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.
Cover of the special report on ‘village democracy’ in Tibetan
Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) proclaims that ‘all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of law.’ Although the government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has signed many UN treaties and conventions, it has consistently failed to implement and abide by them, and has resorted to its domestic laws and regulations to violate the basic and legitimate rights of its citizens.
As a member of the United Nations, the PRC is under legal obligation to educate its citizens, and implement within its territorial boundary, the laws, conventions and treaties of the UN. Instead of raising popular awareness about international human rights law, more emphasis is put on repressive domestic laws promoted and propagated under forced education campaigns such as ‘legal education’ or ‘patriotic education’.
To counter this, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), Dharamsala, has come out with two new publications titled “Nyamdrel Gyaltsog Ki Trim Yig Khag” (‘A Collection of United Nations’ Conventions) and “Sota Chen Ki Mangtso” (‘Monitored Democracy’).
DVD cover of ‘Through Flesh and Bones: Stories of Torture and Survival in Tibet’
Today, 26 June 2014, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) joins the international community in commemorating the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. On this day, we honor and support those who have suffered unjust, cruel and degrading forms of physical and mental torture. We also express our deep concern over the use of torture against persons exercising their basic rights and freedoms.
We at TCHRD reaffirm our commitment to fulfilling the goal of the UN General Assembly Resolution 52/149 passed 12 December 1997, which proclaimed 26 June as ‘the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.’ That goal is the total eradication of torture and the effective implementation of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which entered into force on 26 June 1987.
As declared by the United Nations, torture is a crime under international law. It is a crime against humanity, ‘one of the vilest acts perpetrated by human beings on their fellow human beings,’ because torture aims to annihilate the victim’s personality, denying him or her the inherent dignity of human being. Torture strikes at the core of the physical and psychological integrity of a human being. Furthermore, the practice of torture often triggers heightened levels of human rights violations such as disappearances, extra judicial killings and genocide.
“The greatest mental suffering of Tibetans is not that there is no place to complain about their sufferings but that they are not allowed to complain.”
~ Nyen
Jangtse Donkho aka Nyen
Two Tibetan writers, Jangtse Donkho (pen name: Nyen/“The Wrathful”) and Buddha were released earlier today on 20 June 2014 after serving four years in Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province.
Jangtse Donkho was arrested on 21 June 2011 from his home in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County and accused of writing a “reactionary” essay entitled ‘What Human Rights Do We Have Over Our Bodies?’ which commented on the Chinese government’s bloody suppression of the 2008 Uprising. The essay was published in the Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain) literary journal, which was later banned. Jangtse Donkho was 33 at the time of his arrest. Before his arrest, he was working as a researcher at Kyungchu (Ch: Qiongxi) town, Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. Donkho wrote the book Rolang (Eng: ‘Zombie’) and along with Buddha, edited a few more journals including Du Rab Kyi Nga (Eng: ‘Consciousness of the Century’).
Buddha is a writer, poet, and medical doctor whose work is regarded as influential in Tibetan society. He was detained on 26 June 2011 at the hospital where he worked in Ngaba County town. He was 34 at the time.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is pleased to learn that Dhondup Wangchen, the courageous filmmaker of Jigdral (“Leaving Fear Behind”) has been released after serving 6 years in prison.
Dhondup Wangchen was released 5 June 2014 from a prison in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province.
TCHRD hopes for Dhondup Wangchen’s safe return and swift reunion with his wife, Lhamo Tso, and his four children.
Dhondup Wangchen was detained by the Chinese authorities in March 2008 for shooting the 25-minute documentary film called Jigdral. The documentaryis based on 35 hours of footage and 108 interviews that Dhondup Wangchen and his assistant, Golog Jigme, conducted over five months in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The film features candid conversations with ordinary Tibetans – monks, nuns, herders, students – in Tibetan areas in Qinghai Province who expressed their views on a wide range of issues such as the Dalai Lama, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and human rights conditions in Tibet.
“For the values of democracy and equality, many great men and women gave up their lives. On this earth beneath the vast sky, although freedom and democracy belong to the entire humanity, they will never belong to those who oppress by practicing dictatorship.”
~ Tashi Rabten aka Theurang
Tiananmen protest on 4 June 1989 [Photo: theviewspaper.net]Today marks the 25th anniversary of the 4 June 1989 Tiananmen Square democracy protest in Beijing, which saw the participation of over a million Chinese students, workers and professionals. Deng Xiaoping, then the leader of the Chinese Communist Party, ordered 200,000 People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers in armored tanks to suppress the non-violent protest. In the wake of the bloody crackdown, hundreds of thousands of Chinese citizens died, and thousands of them injured brutally. Many also disappeared. The Tiananmen massacre revealed the true nature of the CCP and the PLA to the world: that they do not protect or work for the liberation of the Chinese people – that authoritarian regime survival is more important than human lives.
![Zhou Yongkang, China's former security czar used the prevailing anti-terror mood or 'war on terror' to engage in widespread and systematic abuse of human rights in Tibet [Photo: siweiluozi.net]](https://tchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/zhou-yongkang.jpg)
![Tiananmen protest on 4 June 1989 [Photo: theviewspaper.net]](https://tchrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/tiananmen-massacre.jpg)