amdo – Page 2

30/09/2013 News

Tibetan master tailor dies in self-immolation, body seized by police

Shichung, a master tailor and father of three became the 121st Tibetan to die of self-immolation protest in Tibet.

A Tibetan man known for his master tailoring skills has died of self-immolation protest in front of his home in Thawa Village in Gomang Township in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province. The total number of self-immolation protests inside Tibet has now reached 121.

According to information received by TCHRD, Shichung, 41, set himself on fire at around 4 pm (local time) on 28 September 2013 to protest against China’s repressive policies in Tibet. At the time, local Tibetans were participating in a prayer ceremony conducted every year in the village.

Shichung conducted his self-immolation protest in front of the gate of his house, which lies close to the highway that connects Ngaba to Golog (Ch: Guoluo) in neighboring Qinghai Province. Eyewitnesses said that on the day of the prayer ceremony, sometime in the afternoon, Shichung left the prayer ceremony and headed toward his home. There, at his house, he lighted a butter lamp in front of a portrait of the Dalai Lama. Moments later, he was seen engulfed in flames outside his house. He walked forward around forty steps and died.

25/09/2013 News

Tibetan poet found detained after months of disappearance

Cover of Tsol (Eng: Search), a poetry collection authored by Lobsang Namgyal who had been detained since May 2012. — Cover of Tsol, a poetry collection authored by Lobsang Namgyal who had been detained since May 2012.

A Tibetan man who authored a book of poetry was found detained nine months after his disappearance from his work place in Chengdu city in Sichuan Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, Lobsang Namgyal, 26, was secretly detained sometime around 15 May 2012 from Buddha Cultural Centre, where he was working as a part-time employee in Chengdu. For months, his family members and relatives made many attempts to find him but to no avail. Local sources cite unsubstantiated information that he was picked up by Public Security Bureau officers from the centre.

Under the pseudonym Sangmig (Eng: Secret Eye), Lobsang Namgyal had authored a collection of poetry titled Tsol (Eng: Search) in which he wrote about his life’s goals and about the state of fellow Tibetans. In February 2013, sources learned that he was being held at a detention centre in Chengdu.

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.

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.

02/08/2013 News

Preview of Ancestors’ Tomb: ‘Kirti Monastery has become like a Leprosy Patient’

Armed police make their way into Kirti Monastery in March 2010

Mar Jang-nyug (pseudonym) is a Tibetan writer born and brought up in Marong village of Ngaba in the Tibetan province of Amdo. He represents in many ways the number of young University-educated Tibetans, schooled in the Chinese system, a system that Mar Jang-nyug rips apart in a stinging collection of journal entries and personal notes titled “Ancestors’ Tomb”.

TCHRD presents a translated and edited chapter from the book, which will be released in full on 14 August. In this chapter written on 27 May 2012, the author uncovers the oppressive conditions at Kirti Monastery, which continues to remain under lockdown.

20/07/2013 News

Refugee Testimony: Former disciple of disappeared Buddhist scholar escapes Tibet

Tenzin Dawa (name changed), 36, is a Tibetan monk from Barmi Monastery in Tsongru (Ch: Chonger) Township of Dzoege (Ch: Ru’ergai) County, Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. Dzoege County has witnessed at least seven confirmed self-immolation protests so far.

Tenzin Dawa reached India early this month. He is also a former disciple of Gyen Kunchok Nyima, a Buddhist scholar and teacher at Drepung Monastery who went missing since April 2008 after his detention and subsequent sentencing to 20 years in prison. Tenzin Dawa says there are many disciples of Gyen Kunchok Nyima looking for information about the whereabouts of their teacher. No one knows where the Buddhist scholar is imprisoned or whether he is alive.

In his testimony to TCHRD, Tenzin Dawa recounts the current situation inside Tibet in particular his hometown in Dzoege where local Chinese authorities have planted spies in every village to monitor conversations and keep a strict watch over Tibetan activities, in an ongoing effort to prevent self-immolation and other protests.

The testimony also contains details on how Chinese authorities attempted to pressure local Tibetans to sign an official order that forbids any kind of activities to support or sympathise with self-immolation protests.

17/06/2013 News

‘So many myriad hellish sufferings’: Persecution of Tibetan artists

Cover photographs of the album feature Chakdor (middle in gold-colored shirt wearing dark glasses), Pema Trinley (in maroon shirt on right) and musician Khenrap (left in black shirt) — Cover photo of the album shows Chakdor (standing in the middle in gold-colored shirt), Pema Trinley (in maroon shirt on right) and musician Khenrap (on left in black shirt)

TCHRD has translated some of the songs from the album, ‘Agony of Unhealed Wounds’, to highlight the secret imprisonment of Tibetan musicians Chakdor and Pema Trinley in Ngaba County in the Tibetan province of Amdo. The release and distribution of the album in July last year led to the detention and imprisonment of Chakdor and Pema Trinley, and the disappearance of musician Khenrap and songwriter Nyagdompo.

Chakdor and Pema Trinley each received four years’ prison sentence in February this year. After being informed officially about the sentencing, family members of both the musicians made at least two unsuccessful attempts to visit them in Mianyang Prison. The Mianyang prison officials apparently had no knowledge about the musicians’ whereabouts.

13/06/2013 News

Two Tibetan singers secretly sentenced but whereabouts unknown

Tibetan singer Chakdor sentenced to two years in prison. His whereabouts remain unknown. — Tibetan singer Chakdor sentenced to four years in prison. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Two Tibetan singers who were detained last year for releasing a music album titled “Agony of Unhealed Wounds” had been secretly sentenced to four years in prison in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

According to reliable information received by TCHRD, singers Pema Trinley, 22, and Chakdor, 32, both hailing from Meuruma nomadic village, had recorded and distributed a music DVD containing songs about current situation in Tibet including self-immolation protests, as well as songs in praise of the Dalai Lama, Panchen Lama, Kirti Rinpoche (exiled head of the Kirti monastery) and Lobsang Sangay (exiled Tibetan political leader). In July 2012, days after the release of the music album, both singers were arrested in the neighbouring Machu (Ch: Maqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. For over six months, they were detained in Ngaba County, sources told TCHRD, before their secret sentencing in February this year.

17/04/2013 News

Tibetan mother dies of self-immolation, denied proper cremation by Chinese authorities

A Tibetan mother of one has died after setting herself on fire in protest against Chinese rule in Dzamthang (Ch: Rangtang) County in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, Chuktso, 20, died after her self-immolation protest on 16 April near Jonang Monastery in Dzamthang County in the Tibetan province of Amdo. Sources said the burning protest took place at around 3 pm (local time).

17/04/2013 News

Chabcha student protesters sentenced up to four years

A grainy picture (taken on mobile phone) of the People's Armed Police contingent during the Chabcha protest. — A grainy picture (taken on mobile phone) of the People’s Armed Police contingent during the Chabcha protest.

Eight Tibetan students have been sentenced to varying prison terms for “illegally holding demonstration” last year by the Chabcha (Ch: Gonghe) County People’s Court in Chabcha County in Tsolho (Ch: Hainan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, according to a report published today on the official “China’s Tibet website”. (Please click here for the report in Tibetan.)

According to the report, the county court passed the judgement on 10 April 2013 at around 10 am (local time), sentencing eight Tibetan youths from Tsolho Vocational School in Chabcha County for holding demonstration on 26 November 2012. They were charged of “causing harm to social stability”.

18/02/2013 News

Amdo Ngaba monk sheds light on repression in Tibet

Lobsang Samphel, 25, was born in Tsoduk nomadic village in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, in Amdo province. He became a monk at 13 and joined Gomang Monastery, which had over 900 monks prior to 2008. Lobsang Samphel saw first-hand the deaths of unarmed Tibetan protesters from police firing at a protest in Ngaba County town. He reached in exile in India in November 2012. He shares his story with TCHRD:

“After the widespread protests in 2008 in Tibet, the Chinese authorities appointed 25 permanent staff at Gomang Monastery, to carry out ‘patriotic education’ and oversee the entire teachings and administration at the monastery. Restrictions on day-to-day affairs have since increased at the monastery, posing great obstacles to the monks. Beginning 29 March 2008, the Chinese authorities launched an intensified three-month ‘patriotic education’ campaign at Gomang Monastery. The objectives of the campaign were to oppose and condemn ‘splittist cliques’ and ‘Dalai clique.’ Monks undergoing political education classes had to sit for exams every ten days, finding the correct answer for sensitive political questions such as ‘Is the Dalai clique responsible for ‘splitting’ the Chinese Motherland or not?’ Such derogatory remarks and baseless allegations against our root spiritual teacher filled our hearts with anguish and we felt as if our hearts have been wounded.