The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the unlawful and arbitrary detention of Mr Tashi Wangchuk for his peaceful advocacy of Tibetan language education and calls for his immediate release.
In March this year, a 30-yr-old Tibetan man called Tashi took his own life soon after his detention because he was unable to bear the torture inflicted on him in Chinese police custody. The same month, another Tibetan man named Ngodup Phuntsok aka Ngoe-ga, 61, was released from prison after eight years with crippled back and legs, unable to walk. Weeks before Ngoe-ga’s release, news surfaced that Chinese prison authorities had suddenly hospitalised the courageous monk Jigme Gyatso aka Jigme Guri just six months prior to his release. Jigme Gyatso was serving a five-year sentence for exposing human rights violations particularly Chinese torture methods in Tibet. There are fears that Jigme Gyatso might be subjected to medical torture or unnecessary treatment, and similar concerns have been expressed in regards to Dolma Tso, a 30-yr-old Tibetan woman who could be subjected to forced medical procedures. In late March this year, Tibetan language and culture advocate Tashi Wangchuk, 30, has not been heard or seen after being held in prolonged secret detention and charged of inciting separatism . Just last month, a Tibetan writer named Lobsang Jamyang (Pen-name: Lomik) was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for “leaking state secrets” and “engaging in separatist activities”; he had been held in secret detention since April 2015.
On 21 April 2016, the second talk in the TCHRD’s United States Tibet Talk Series was at the International Campaign for Tibet’s office in Washington D.C. The first talk in the series was hosted with the Nanda Center for International Law at the University of Denver on 17 February.
The most recent conference, “Tibetan Political Prisoners: Rights and Responses” was a panel discussion with ICT’s Andrea Worden and Sophie Richardson from Human Rights Watch and moderated by TCHRD’s John Gaudette.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the ongoing illegal detention of Tashi Wangchuk, 30, a Tibetan businessman who has been a vocal advocate for the preservation…
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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has utmost concern for the physical and psychological health and wellbeing of a Tibetan monk who remains in incommunicado detention since…
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Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
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In keeping with its assimilationist policy, Chinese authorities have recently introduced mathematics textbooks in Chinese language in a number of primary schools to gradually replace the Tibetan version in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Recent media reports exposed steps taken by the TAR education department to introduce Chinese language mathematics textbooks for Tibetan primary school children that have caused deep concern among educated Tibetans some of whom have expressed their concern in writing on online platforms.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) translated a copy (below) of the verdict of Jamyang Wangtso, a 32-year old monk and Namgyal Wangchuk, a 43-year old monk, both from Wuran Village. The verdict was translated from a Chinese government website and can be accessed here.
Due to the difficulty of getting information out of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), not much is known about the circumstance of Jamyang Wangtso and Namgyal Wangchuk’s case beyond what is in the verdict. They received long prison sentences for adding text to a photo that they shared with 15 people on WeChat, a popular instant messaging service. The photo was of two people wearing fur chupas. The additional text was designed to shame the people in the photos.
The number of Tibetans wearing animal fur chupas has greatly decreased since 2006 when Tibetans burned fur clothing to protect the endangered wildlife in Tibet after the Dalai Lama issued a public call against using animal fur and skin. The pictures were shared with other WeChat groups and sparked the “2. 02 Incident.” There is no record in either English or Chinese of what happened during the “2.02 Incident.”