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.
TCHRD has been informed by a reliable source that Chinese authorities in Drango (Ch: Luhuo) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province…
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief HRC13th Session (16 February 2010) Symbol No. A/HRC/13/40/Add.1 In their urgent appeal of 20 March 2008, the Special Procedure brought to the…
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression HRC 20th Session (4 June 2012) Symbol No. A/HRC/20/17 The Special Rapporteur voiced grave…
Larung Gar, the world’s largest Tibetan Buddhist institute, resembles a sliced melon, a year after Chinese authorities dismantled thousands of monastic residences and evicted Buddhist practitioners in Larung valley in…
Former political prisoner Samdup greets Sherphel (in hat) at latter’s home, with a portrait of Dalai Lama seen in the background.
Chinese authorities released a Tibetan man named Sherphel from prison after almost five years in Serthar (Ch: Seda) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
Sherphel was released last year on 25 November after serving four years and ten months in prison for taking part in a protest against Chinese rule in Serthar County in 2012. The news of Sherphel’s release took time in reaching the outside world due to security clampdown including restrictions on sharing information in Tibet. Upon his arrival home in Onsa Village in Shomar Township, he was greeted by his family members and friend Samdup who was also released the same year in August.
Gangkye Drupa Kyab holding a portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Gangkye Drupa Kyab, a Tibetan writer and teacher, was released after four years and seven months from Minyak Rangakha Prison located in the southwestern part of Tibet’s Kham province in present-day Sichuan Province.
Gangkye Drupa Kyab was released at around 5 pm local time on 16 September 2016 before the completion of his sentence. He had been sentenced to five and a half years on 1 August 2013 for allegedly being a member of an underground group called “Marshog Ngogol Tsogpa” (Anti-Communist Party Association). On 15 February 2012, he was arbitrarily detained by a group of prefecture and county level security officers and taken to a detention center in Dartsedo (Ch: Kangding), capital of Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP), Sichuan Province.
An undated photo of Yeshi Lhakdron, a niece of a former political prisoner
A 25 yr-old Tibetan nun disappeared after her arbitrary detention by Chinese security forces during the 2008 uprising in Tibet.
Yeshi Lhakdron, a nun from Dragkar Nunnery went missing after her detention along with two other nuns eight years ago in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) County in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in Tibetan province of Kham. The two other nuns are identified as Sangay Lhamo and Tsewang Khando from the same nunnery. Both nuns were sentenced to two years each and were released after completing their prison terms.
During his secret detention in 2012, respected monk Yonten Gyatso had contemplated suicide to escape custodial torture.
A Tibetan man committed suicide after local police detained him in Markham (Ch: Mangkang) County in Chamdo (Ch: Changdu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region.
Media reports quoting Tibetan sources reported the suicide death of Mr Tashi, 30, on 11 March 2016 at Tsangshul Detention Centre in Markham County. Tashi had been detained on an unknown date before 10 March 2016, which was the 57th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day.
Exile Tibetan sources were also quoted as saying that police officers subjected Tashi to severe beatings and torture in detention. Unable to bear the brutal torture, he killed himself on 11 March.
Chinese authorities have detained yet another Tibetan writer who is also a monk in Ngaba area in present-day Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in Tibetan province of Amdo.
Lomik, 27, was detained around 11. 30 pm on 12 April 2015. Lomik’s detention followed the detention of another well-known Tibetan writer Shok-jang on 16 March 2015. Like Shokjang, Lomik is being held at an undisclosed location.
Exile Tibetan media have reported yet another self-immolation yesterday of a monk in Tawu (Ch: Daofu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
Kelsang Yeshi, 38, a monk at Tawu Nyatso Monastery and a social activist set himself ablaze at around 11.20 am (local time) on 23 December before the entrance gate of a police station inside the monastery compounds. The monk who had studied in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in south India called for “the return of Dalai Lama to Tibet” and “freedom for Tibetans” as he set his body on fire.