A Tibetan monk from the local Kirti Monastery who staged a peaceful solo protest against Chinese government policies was detained in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, the Tibetan province of Amdo.
A Tibetan monk who was recently released after completing a seven-year prison term is in critical condition following injuries suffered during detention and lack of medical care in prison.
Palden Thinley, 26, was released from Deyang prison on the afternoon of 17 May 2015 in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham, according to information received by Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
On the day of his release, prison authorities handed over Palden Thinley to County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers in Kardze apparently to prevent local Tibetans from giving him a hero’s welcome. At around 3 am on 18 May 2015, the Kardze County PSB handed over Thinley to Dhato Township PSB, who in turn secretly summoned his family at night to pick him up.
A teenage Tibetan monk has become the latest target of China’s consistent and systematic attacks on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in Tibet.
Gedun Phuntsok, 18, a monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County was detained on 8 March for staging a peaceful protest calling for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet and for “freedom and equality” in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture (Sichuan Province), in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
The solo protest occurred at about 1.30 pm (local time) in Ngaba County town where on the main road, Gedun Phuntsok walked carrying a huge portrait of the Dalai Lama draped in a yellow khatag (Tibetan ceremonial scarf) on his head and shouted slogans such as “Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama return to Tibet” and “Freedom and equality for Tibet”, according to a source with close contacts in Tibet.
Two young Tibetan monks from Kirti Monastery were convicted and sentenced by the Intermediate People’s Court in Barkham (Ch: Ma’erkang) in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, for “protesting the Chinese nation”. Both monks had independently staged solo protests.
A monk from Kirti Monastery has become the 128th Tibetan to carry out self-immolation protest against Chinese government’s repressive policies in Tibet since 2009. In his last note, Lobsang Palden, 20, has called for love and harmony to prevail over hatred and repression:
“[Y]ou should be able to [live in] harmony with your neighbors – people of the world in general and the Chinese in particular. This is because, if there is love and harmony, we will be able to air our views, no matter what they are and to whom we want to air them.”
Lobsang Palden, a monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County in Tibet’s northeastern province of Amdo self-immolated on 16 March 2014 at around 11:40 am, according to sources from inside Tibet.
The self-immolation occurred at ‘Martyrs’ Street’, which was named so by locals after a series of self-immolation protests was staged on this stretch of the road in Ngaba town.
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.
A Tibetan monk from the besieged Kirti Monastery died of self-immolation protest on 16 March in Ngaba County in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
16 March 2013 was the fifth anniversary of the 2008 protest in Ngaba in which many local people were killed by security forces, and the date has been marked by Ngaba people in various ways every year since. Notably, Lobsang Phuntsok committed self immolation on this day in 2011, and Losang Tsultrim in 2012.
Chinese authorities have detained a monk from Kirti Monastery on the eve of the 54th anniversary of Tibetan uprising day in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
According to reliable information received by TCHRD, Tsepak, 29, was detained at around midnight on 9 March from his aunt’s home in the eastern part of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County. Tsepak had been staying there for some time taking care of his sick aunt.
According to confirmed information received by TCHRD, on 2 February, at around 6 am, a monk named Lobsang Namgyal, 37, from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County committed self-immolation near the Public Security Bureau office in Dzoege (Ch: Ru’ergai) County in Ngaba Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.
The monk, who died on the spot, was seen with running towards the police station, his body in flames, shouting slogans such as ‘May the Dalai Lama live for tens of thousands of years,’ sources told TCHRD.
Later, the Chinese police found a bag on the site of self-immolation, in which they found the monk’s identity card and a letter, which confirmed the identity of the monk as Lobsang Namgyal hailing from Kirti Monastery.
Chinese police have arrested two more monks; identified as Gyatso and Lobsang Gendun, from the Kirti monastery in Ngaba, Sichuan Province.
Sources reported that on 21 November 2011, monk Gyatso was arrested and taken from his room by authorities. Gyatso, age around 42, is from the Ragtsa family in Mesip Village in Ngaba County. He was ordained as a monk at a young age. He was a teacher of the monastery’s school before the school’s closure. Many of his compositions have appeared in regional newspapers and magazines.
Lobsang Gendun, age 48, a former disciplinarian of the Kalachakra college at Kirti, was arrested and detained in mid October. He belongs to the Sego family in Kanyag Village, Trotsik Township.
Around 10 September 2011, three Kirti monks were sentenced to 2- 3 years’ of ‘Re-education Through Labour’ by the Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Prefecture Public Security Bureau (PSB). The three monks: Lobsang Dhargye, Tsekho and Dorjee were all arrested around 12 April 2011 on suspicion related to the 16 March 2011 self immolation of monk Phuntsog.
According to our sources, Dorjee, 16, from Lhoengtsang Village, Ngaba County, has been sentenced to three years re-education through labor.
Tsekho is 30 years old, born in Tru-tse Township, Ngaba County and 22 years old Lobsang Dhargye is from Myeruma, Ngaba County. Both Tsekho and Lobsang Dhargye have been sentenced to re-education through labor for two years and six months.