News – Page 47

31/08/2013 News

China tightens the screw after shooting Tibetan worshippers in Tawu

Armed police making their way down to beat, teargas and shoot Tibetans celebrating Dalai Lama's birthday. — Armed police making their way down to beat, teargas and shoot Tibetans who had come to celebrate Dalai Lama’s birthday.

China has launched a crackdown on local Tibetans who had organised a religious ceremony to observe the birthday of Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama last month in Tawu (Ch: Dawu/Daofu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.

On 6 July 2013, China’s People’s Armed Police (PAP) beat and fired teargas and live ammunition on hundreds of Tibetans who had gathered near Machen Pomra Mountain in Tawu to offer the ritual of incense-burning to celebrate the birthday of the Dalai Lama. At least 14 known Tibetans were injured in the firing and others were detained.

Since then, local authorities in Tawu have intensified surveillance and monitoring of local Tibetans and announced strict punitive measures against local officials and cadres for failing to ‘maintain stability’. Local authorities have vowed to crack down on any signs of ‘separatist’ sentiments and activities by implementing five major ‘stability maintenance’ measures in Tawu County, according to a report published in the official Ganzi Daily newspaper. (Also click here for related report in Chinese language)

29/08/2013 News

Tibetan singer secretly sentenced to five years in prison amid major crackdown in Rebkong

Tibetan singer Shawo Tashi sentenced to five years in prison

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.

24/08/2013 News

Yushu mine protest crackdown exposes China’s ‘nature reserve’ sham

Armed police arrive to suppress protest in Gedrong area of Dzatoe County.

Last week, Chinese armed police beat and teargassed hundreds of Tibetans protesting illegal mining activities in Gedrong area in Dzatoe (Ch: Zaduo) County in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. Exile Tibetan sources reported the detention of eight known Tibetans and hospitalisation of many others who sustained injuries after they protested against illegal diamond mining on 13 August in Atoe, Zachen and Shiza villages in Dzatoe County.

There were reports of an attempted suicide by Sogpo Choedup and the disappearance of another Tibetan man, Khentsa Sodor following the 16 August crackdown. Chinese authorities warned of severe punishment including arrest and imprisonment if the Tibetans continued to protest. Armed police tore down a huge poster that carried Chinese president Xi Jinping’s recent message on environmental protection. By displaying the banner, Tibetan protesters had sought to remind local authorities about Xi’s recent pronouncements on environmental issues.

20/08/2013 News

‘Tears of the Past’: Imprisoned Tibetan writer Gangkye Drupa Kyab in translation

Tibetan writer, teacher, and father of two, Gangkye Drupa Kyab — Imprisoned Tibetan writer, poet, teacher, and father of two, Gangkye Drupa Kyab

Gangkye Drupa Kyab is a writer, poet, teacher and a father of two who was sentenced early this month to five years and six months in prison for alleged political activities.

Gangkye Drupa Kyab was first detained on the night of 15 February 2012 by a group of about 20 Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers from his home in Serta (Ch: Seda) County. His house was raided and his wife, Wangchuk Lhamo, was given no explanation despite repeated appeals at the time of detention. Since then, for 17 months, his whereabouts remained unknown to family and friends until his sentencing on 1 August 2013.

Choenyi Woeser, an exile Tibetan journalist and a childhood friend of Drupa Kyab told TCHRD that local Tibetans consider Drupa Kyab a highly conscientious individual and teacher, having a great love and respect for Tibetan culture and language.

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.

14/08/2013 News / Thematic Reports

Dissenting Voices: TCHRD releases English translation of Ancestors’ Tomb

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is pleased to announce the release of Ancestors’ Tomb, a book written by a Tibetan university student in Ngaba in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

Mar Jang-nyug (pseudonym) is a Tibetan writer who was born and brought up in Marong village of Ngaba in the Tibetan province of Amdo. Ancestors’ Tomb reveals the oppressive nature of Chinese rule in Tibet. With his writings, Mar Jang-nyug bears witness to the suffering and pain endured by Tibetans and exposes the authoritarian workings of the Chinese government.

Through an array of prose and poetry, the book describes the dictatorial nature of the Chinese government, its relentless marginalization of Tibetan language and culture, destruction of environment through unrestricted deforestation and mining and its ever-increasing violations of human rights.

13/08/2013 News

Four Tibetan monks released from Chinese labour camp

A banner at 8 February 2012 demonstration in Trindu calls for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet

Four Tibetan monks have been released following their incarceration in a Re-education Through Labour (Ch: Laojiao) camp in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, four monks from Nyatso Zilkar Monastery: Sonam Gewa, Lobsang Samten, Lobsang Nyima and Tenzin Sherab were released last month from an RTL prison a few months before the completion of their sentence.

Tenzin Sherab was released on 15 July 2013. He was arrested on 1 October 2012 and later sentenced to one year for distributing a newspaper called Mar-jen (Raw Red) that apparently carried contents related to self-immolation protest. Sources say he suffered beatings and torture during detention and in RTL prison, he was forced to work for 16 hours with a brief lunch break making copper wires and gloves in the prison factory.

09/08/2013 News

China detains Tibetan singer for ‘politically subversive’ song

Singer Kelsang Yarphel, about 37, detained for singing "politically subversive" song at a musical concert. — Singer Kelsang Yarphel, about 37, detained for singing “politically subversive” song at a musical concert.

A well-known Tibetan singer was detained last month in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on suspected charges of singing a “politically-subversive” song at a music concert.

According to information received by TCHRD, Kelsang Yarphel, about 37, was detained at around 14 July 2013 in Lhasa and taken to a detention centre in Chengdu city in Sichuan Province where he remains now.

Sources from Tibet said that in October and November 2012, Kelsang Yarphel and some other Tibetan musicians and singers organised a music concert called Khawei Metok. At the concert, Kelsang Yarphel performed a song titled Bhodpa Tso (Fellow Tibetans) whose lyrics were deemed ‘politically subversive’ by the Chinese authorities. The DVDs made out of the songs performed at the concert were distributed distributed widely in Tibetan areas in Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces. A month later, the Chinese authorities enforced a ban on the sale and distribution of the DVD many of which were confiscated.

07/08/2013 News

Tibetan writer and four others sentenced to more than 5 years in prison

A popular Tibetan writer and four others have been sentenced to prison early this month by Chinese authorities in Nyagchu (Ch: Yajiang) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

On 1 August 2013, the County People’s Court in Nyagchu County sentenced the writer, Gangkye Drupa Kyab, to five years and six months in prison for alleged political activities. Four other Tibetan men were also sentenced. Samdup received five years’ prison term while Sheygyal and Yudrang each were sentenced to two years. Drensel received three years prison sentence, according to information obtained by Tibet Express, an exile Tibetan newspaper.

All of them were sentenced for allegedly being members of a secret political group called “Marshog Ngogol Tsogpa” (Anti-Communist Party Association). Both Samdup, 32, and Yudrang were detained on 13 June 2012.

06/08/2013 News

China releases four Tibetans detained for petitioning in Beijing

Four Tibetan laymen who were detained two weeks ago for petitioning the Chinese central authorities have been released. The petitioners were calling for the release of Trulku Tenzin Delek, a popular religious figure from Nyagchu (Ch: Yajiang) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, four Tibetan laymen Sogren Lori, 66, Lugzi Abey, 50, Lhagma Choedup, 64, and Trinley, 46, were detained on 20 July at Chengdu after their return from Beijing. Trulku Tenzin Delek’s sister Donkar Lhamo, 47, was also among the group although she was not detained. The group, representing local Tibetans in Nyagchu County, visited Beijing from 9 July to submit petition to the Chinese central government and other relevant offices.

06/08/2013 News

Ancestors’ Tomb: ‘My Mother was a maidservant of the Communist Party’

An old Chinese Communist Party propaganda poster.

Mar Jang-nyug (pseudonym) is a Tibetan writer born and brought up in Marong village of Ngaba in the Tibetan province of Amdo. TCHRD presents another translated and edited essay from the author’s forthcoming book, Ancestors’ Tomb. This essay was written on 25 March 2012, a few months after the death of the author’s mother.

Ancestors’ Tomb is replete with accounts of unaddressed grievances and unfulfilled aspirations, at once personal and yet political, as is demonstrated by the tortured body of the author’s mother and her legacy to her son of a wounded heart, both bearing witness to brutalities bygone and present.

The invoking of memories about Ngaba during the nascent stages of Chinese rule is telling in that it gives a historical context – resonant with the underlying Buddhist theme of cause and effect – to the spate of self-immolation protests in Tibet in recent years.