Tag: monks

Earlier this month, Chinese authorities sent two monks, Gendun Dakpa and Lobsang Sherab, to prison for allegedly ‘sharing information with outsiders’ and ‘inciting separatism’ in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in Tibet’s Amdo Province. The monks were sentenced after almost a year of incommunicado detention since August last year. On 17 June, the Trochu County…

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Mother of two, Sangyal Tso, died of self-immolation protest.
Mother of two, Sangyal Tso, died of self-immolation protest.

Chinese authorities have deepened the crackdown on local Tibetans following the self-immolation of Sangyal Tso, a Tibetan mother of two, who died of self-immolation protest late last month in Dokhog (Ch: Daogao) Township in Chone (Ch: Zhuoni) County, Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

According to reliable information received by TCHRD, two monks were detained in the first week of June from Choephel Shing Tashi Choekorling Monastery based in Dokhog Township. Samten Gyatso, a student at the monastery’s traditional medical college was detained on 4 June and taken to an undisclosed location. Lobsang Tenzin was a student of Buddhist dialectics college at the monastery until his sudden and arbitrary detention on 5 June.

Both monks are in their 20s and hail from the same village as Sangyal Tso, who was born and raised in Meru Sipa Village in Nyinpa (Ch: Niba) Township, Chone County. There is no information on the current condition and well-being of the monks.

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Sonam Yingyen
Sonam Yingyen

An imprisoned monk from the restive Nyatso Zilkar Monastery in Trindu (Ch: Chenduo) County, Jyekundo (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (Qinghai Province) was released on an unknown date last month before the expiration of his prison term due to medical emergency.

According to information received by TCHRD, Sonam Yingyen, 44, became seriously ill soon after he was sentenced to two-year imprisonment in October 2012 in Siling (Ch: Xining) city, capital of Qinghai Province.

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Chinese authorities arrested five Tibetans in Sershul (Ch: Serxu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, on the 54th anniversary of the Tibetan national uprising day on 10 March 2013.

According to information received by TCHRD, at around 11 am (local time) on 10 March 2013, three Tibetan monks from Ganden Samten Dhargyeling Monastery in Dzachuka area in Sershul County staged a protest march in the County town and got arrested along with two other lay Tibetan men who tried to persuade the monks from protesting for fear of arrest.
The source told TCHRD that the monks shouted slogans for “freedom, democracy, and the need for a Middle Way approach to solve the Tibet issue.” They carried a huge flag emblazoned with a portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

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A disciplinary head of Amdo Jachung Monastery in Bayen County, Tsoshar Prefecture, Qinghai Province has been expelled for failing to comply with the officials of “patriotic education” campaign, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

On 27 June, a team of officials from Religious Affairs Bureau of Bayen (Ch: Hualong) Hui County under Tsoshar (Ch: Haidong) Prefecture, Qinghai Province and the County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials arrived at Amdo Jachung Monastery to carry out “patriotic education” campaign now euphemistically called by the name of “Legal Education” session. According to source, the officials ordered the disciplinary head of Amdo Jachung Monastery, Lobsang Tsultrim, to call for monks to assemble for the “legal education” to be conducted in the monastery.

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Sonam Rabgyal
Sonam Rabgyal

Five monks have gone missing since the raid by Chinese security officials on Ramoche Temple following protests in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March 2008.

According to information received by TCHRD, the whereabouts of Ramoche monastery’s Chagzoe (manager and treasurer) Sonam Rabgyal and four other monks cannot be ascertained. The monks were arrested during a midnight raid in monks’ residence on 7 April 2008.

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According to confirm information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), two monks committed suicide in Amdo Ngaba (Ch: Aba) as a direct result of relentless oppression by the Chinese security forces after the series of peaceful protests.

On 27 March 2008, a monk Lobsang Jinpa of Ngaba Kirti Monastery committed suicide. He hailed from Ngasib Village in Amdo Ngaba. In his signed suicide note, Lobsang stated, “the Chinese government has leveled false allegations against the monks of Kirti Monastery for leaking State Secrets to the outside world, leading and organizing the protests and for keeping the dead bodies of Tibetan protesters shot dead by the Chinese security forces. However, all the charges leveled by the Chinese government were not committed by anyone in Kirti Monastery, but carried out solely by me”. The note further stated “I led the peaceful protest, and I am solely responsible for the protest”. The suicide note carried a poignant end line, it reads, “I do not want to live under the Chinese oppression even for a minute, leave aside living for a day”.

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The People’s Republic of China recommenced implementation of the ‘patriotic education’ campaign in monastic institutions in Tibet, according to testimonies received from Tibetan monks who fled into exile. There has been a noted rise in the intensity of the campaign, which is being carried out vigorously in the monastic institutions in and around Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Monks…

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Fifteen monks, including 12 juveniles and three elderly monks above the age of 65, were expelled from Yungtrung Peri Monastery following a visit of ‘Work Team’ officials, according to Tsultrim Tenzin, a 26 year-old monk from the Monastery who fled to India in April 2000.

In June 1998, a six-member ‘work team’ officials came to Yungtrung Peri Monastery and summoned all the residents of the monastery for ‘re-education’. Documents were distributed to monks for study and each monk was individually interrogated.  Later the officials expelled 15 monks and they were prohibited from participating in any religious practices.

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