In May this year, the Nangchen County People’s Court sentenced the 21 Tibetans in two groups. The first group of 11 Tibetans from Do Thrang village in Shordha town were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to six years and monetary fines from 10000 to 50000 yuan.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is deeply saddened and appalled by the death in detention of yet another political prisoner in Tibet. Of more immediate concern is the refusal by Chinese prison authorities to release the body of the deceased, and no death certificate has been issued or an autopsy done. Lobsang Yeshi, a former village…
Latest information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) demonstrates escalating violence and crackdowns including extrajudicial killing and arbitrary detentions in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), in the eastern Tibetan province of Kham.
A source with contacts in Tibet informed TCHRD that a popular and respected village headman became a victim of extrajudicial killings on 21 November on the orders of the local Communist Party authorities. Bachen Gyewa aka Ngawang Monlam, the headman of Ushung Village in Gyashoe Yangshok Township (also known as Sentsa Township) in Diru County was removed from his post, arrested and then killed on the orders of the secretary of the Diru County Party Committee.
The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear but it appears that Bachen Gyewa posed a formidable challenge to the Chinese government’s ongoing ‘stability maintenance’ measures that have been implemented since late 2011.[i] It did not help either that the late village headman was a former monk at the local Pekar Monastery which has witnessed sporadic yet intense demonstration against new religious measures implemented by the Chinese government.
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is deeply distressed to learn that Lodoe Rabsel, the former abbot of the historic Karma Monastery, was subjected to secret detention for more than a week soon after he was released on completion of his two years and 6 months prison term.
According to information received by TCHRD, Lodoe Rabsel was released on 5 May 2014 from the high-security Powo Tramo Prison (also known as Bomi Prison) located in Pome (Ch: Bomi) County in Nyingtri (Ch: Nyingchi/Linzhi) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Upon release, authorities banned the senior monk from wearing his monastic robes, joining his monastery or resuming his religious practice. Before his imprisonment, he served as the abbot of Karma Monastery in Karma (Ch: Gama) Township in Chamdo County, Chamdo( Ch: Changdu) Prefecture, TAR. Karma Monastery, founded by the 1st Karmapa Duesum Khenpa in the 12th century, is the original monastery of the Karma Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.
In the movie 12 Years a Slave, which recently won the Academy Award for Best Picture, the cruelty and inhumanity of slavery was encapsulated in one memorable scene when a slave returns to the cotton plantation with a bar of soap. The slave makes a demand for the simple right to be clean and is severely whipped and beaten for doing so.
Today in Tibet monks, nuns, and family members of Khenpo Kartse, also known as Khenpo Karma Tsewang, are refusing to bathe as a gesture of solidarity. Khenpo Kartse was arrested from his hotel room in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province, at 1 am on 7 December 2013. For over three months prison officials have refused to allow Khenpo Kartse to bathe.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy has received information concerning the status and treatment of Khenpo Kartse, also known as Khenpo Karma Tsewang, who was arrested at 1 am on 7 December 2013. Khenpo Kartse is a popular senior religious figure and well respected for his social work and the promotion and protection of Tibetan language, culture and religion. He is the abbot of Jhapa Monastery in Nangchen (Ch: Nángqiān) County in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.
Thousands of supporters of Khenpo Kartse staged a five hour-long sit-in protesting his arrest and demanding an explanation for his arrest. Sixteen monks were arrested during these protests. The last monk was released on 21 January 2014. Despite the sit-in and assurances from the local Monastery Management Committee, Khenpo Kartse was not released and his detention, which has now lasted over three months, has only been justified in the most vague terms. In just over three months of detention, Khenpo Kartse has been subjected to an enforced disappearance, cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.
Sources report of another sad self immolation of a Tibetan on Thursday (1 December, 2011) in Chamdo Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Tenzin Phuntsok, in his forties, shouted slogans and distributed leaflets before setting himself afire. He was reportedly taken to hospital and is believed to have survived.
Phuntsok was a former monk of Karma monastery, Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu), TAR. He was born in Jingdhung village, Chamdo County, TAR.
According to reliable information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), Chinese authority in Chamdo sentenced six Tibetan monks to varying prison terms on 22 May 2009.
Earlier on 5 January 2009, a bomb blast took place in Choekor Township, Jomda County, Chamdo Prefecture, “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”). The bomb blast incident was followed by few sporadic protests in the area. Few days later, six monks of Dhen Choekor Monastery were arrested on 9 and 10 January 2009 in Jomda County for staging protest demonstration.
China arrests 16 monks and 2 lay Tibetans in Markham County according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
For over a month the Chinese authorities have been conducting “Patriotic re-education” campaign in Woeser Monastery and Khenpa Lungpa Monastery in Garthog Township, Markham ( Ch: Mangkang) County, Chamdo Prefecture, (Ch: Qamdo) “Tibet Autonomous Region” (“TAR”).