incommunicado detention

10/08/2023 Arbitrary Detention / Degrading treatment or punishment / extrajudicial summary or arbitary executions / Freedom of Opinion and Expression / News / political-prisoner / torture

Concerns over well-being of writer Dhi Lhaden despite release from prison

The release of writer Dhi Lhaden after four years of imprisonment raises concerns regarding his physical and mental well-being, exacerbated by the limited accessibility of information about his current situation. Having endured two years of incommunicado detention since 2019, he was charged with “disrupting social order,” a common accusation against human rights activists, and secretly sentenced to four years in 2021. Despite his expected release this year, it was delayed by two months, perceived as a result of cautious measures by Chinese authorities to control information flow. Lhaden’s unjust trial, preceded by isolation, potential coercion, and torture, further adds complexity. As a former monk and writer, his works illuminated the Tibetan perspective, encompassing hopes, wishes, and the overall plight.

19/12/2022 abitrary-detention / Involuntary Disappearance / News / torture / zero-Covid policy

China’s zero-Covid policy claims the life of persecuted Tibetan businessman and philanthropist Nangchen Tashi’s grandson

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.

21/10/2021 News

Tibetan writer Dhi Lhaden sentenced to four years in prison

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) condemns the unjust sentencing of Tibetan writer Lhaden (Pen-name: Dhi Lhaden) to four years in prison and calls on the Chinese authorities to end all restrictions on free speech and dissent in Tibet.

30/08/2021 abitrary-detention / Campaign / News / political-prisoner / special-procedure / torture

TCHRD stands in solidarity with all victims of enforced disappearances

On the 38th International day of the victims of enforced disappearances, TCHRD remembers all victims of enforced disappearance inside Tibet and calls on China to ratify the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearances (Convention).

23/06/2021 News

China must release Tibetan writer and intellectual Lhaden from prolonged incommunicado detention

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) demands the immediate and unconditional release of the noted Tibetan writer and intellectual Mr Lhaden (pseudonym: Dhi Lhaden) who has been in arbitrary detention for two years at an undisclosed location in Chengdu city, Sichuan Province.

25/04/2017 News / TCHRD Statements

China silent on enforced disappearance of Tibet’s Panchen Lama as TCHRD observes 22 years of Panchen Lama’s captivity with a new report on Tibet’s prisoners of conscience

Today is the 28th birthday of Tibet’s 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who went missing 22 years ago along with his parents after they were detained by Chinese officials in Tibet. The Panchen Lama’s case has become one of the world’s longest enforced disappearances, the answer to which is considered a top state secret by the Chinese government. The…

07/10/2014 News

Tibetan businessman detained incommunicado after staging lone protest in Kardze

Passang Wangdu has been detained incommunicado following his lone protest. — Passang Wangchuk has been detained incommunicado following his lone protest.

A Tibetan businessman has been detained incommunicado for staging a lone protest in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) County in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Sichuan Province), according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

Passang Wanghuk aka Ngodrug, was arrested on 4 October 2014 following his protest against the Chinese government at the main market in Kardze County.

“In front of a huge assembled crowd at the main market in Kardze [County], Passang Wangchuk staged a protest against the Chinese government at around 10.50 am Saturday, 4 October 2014,” a source told TCHRD.

Passang Wangchuk was holding a white banner, emblazoned with slogans demanding human rights, freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

24/04/2013 News / TCHRD Statements

Tibet’s Stolen Spiritual Leader Turns 24: China must end enforced disappearance of Tibet’s Panchen Lama

Tibet's XIth Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima — Tibet’s XIth Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, Tibet’s XI^th Panchen Lama, one of the most important Tibetan spiritual leaders, turns 24 today under house arrest. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was born on 25 April 1989 in Lhari County in Nagchu, Tibet. It is his 18th year in Chinese custody at an undisclosed location after he and his parents disappeared in 1995. He was only six years old when he was disappeared by the Chinese authorities.

For about 18 years, the Chinese authorities have wilfully misled the international community on the actual whereabouts and wellbeing of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family members, almost always sticking to the standard, unverifiable response that the “perfectly ordinary boy” is in “protective custody”, growing up in “excellent state of health” and that his parents “did not want to be disturbed”.