Information received by TCHRD confirmed that Gephel, a Tibetan student from Muge Township in Zungchu (Ch: Songpan) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo, was detained on the evening of 24 January from his home for displaying Buddhist flags instead of Chinese flag as the backdrop on the stage during ‘Losar’ New Year celebration show.
Information obtained by at least two sources in Lhasa confirmed that on the morning of 19 December, around 10:30 am local time, Gonpo Kyi stood outside the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court holding a placard with a slogan in Chinese: “Dorji Tashi is innocent.” In less than 5 minutes, security personnel swooped down on her even as she continued shouting slogans for her brother’s innocence. She was eventually taken behind the court building following which her condition and whereabouts remain unknown.
TCHRD calls on the Chinese authorities to put an immediate end to the zero-Covid policy in all its forms and hold government officials responsible for the avoidable death of Nangchen Tashi’s grandson. A thorough and impartial investigation must be launched into this tragedy so that similar violations and unnecessary loss of life can be prevented in the future.
The news about Goyon’s release comes close on the heels of another major development: sentencing of six former Tibetan political prisoners, writers and public intellectuals on the trumped-up charges of “inciting separatism” and “endangering state security” in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
As reports emerged of massive protests staged by Chinese public against the government’s zero-Covid policy, sources in Tibet informed TCHRD about the discriminatory treatment and arbitrary detention of local Tibetans in the last three months in both Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and other Tibetan areas.
Chinese authorities detained five Tibetan men on the evening of 13 October in Golog (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo for Dalai Lama song on Chinese social media.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) strongly condemns the sentencing of two monks, Tenzin Dhargay and Rigtse, to prison for merely exercising the right to freedom of expression, a right protected in the Chinese Constitution as well as in major international human rights instruments that the government of People’s Republic of China is party to.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) strongly condemns the unjust sentencing of the Tibetan entrepreneur and philanthropist Mr Tenzin Choephel to 18 years in prison on the trumped-up charge of “inciting separatism” in Tarchen (Ch: Daqen) Township in Sernye (Ch: Sèní) District, Nagchu (Ch: Nagchu) City
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) launched today the #WhyProtest digital campaign to promote and protect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly or the right to protest. The right to protest is universally recognised as a fundamental human right that is crucial to creating a tolerant and pluralistic society in which groups with different beliefs, practices, or policies can coexist peacefully. This fundamental right is necessary for the exercise of other human rights.