On 9 November, a respected Tibetan writer and intellectual, Rongwo Gendun Lhundup was released from a Chinese prison. While Tibetan writers, artists, intellectuals, and activists inside and outside Tibet celebrated his release on social media, the reality remains grim. Like all former Tibetan political prisoners convicted on trumped-up charges, Rongwo Gendun Lhundup, despite being released, is placed under heavy surveillance and restrictions.
China’s widespread and intrusive practices of mass surveillance and censorship have served as a perfect foil to continue perpetrating human rights violations with impunity in Tibet. Since 2008 when Tibetans held widespread protests calling for freedom and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Chinese authorities have tightened control to ensure that such an event will never happen again. For years now, the Chinese Communist Party (‘Party’) authorities have enforced a model of social control that has proved highly successful in silencing Tibet and encouraging the rapid forced assimilation of Tibetans.
Chinese authorities have announced the stationing of more than 20,000 cadres in 5,464 villages as part of the controversial ‘Solidify the Foundation, Benefit the Masses’ (Ch: qianji huimin) campaign in TAR.
A Tibetan man was detained in a ‘re-education’ facility for over a month after he was caught conversing on phone with his younger brother about the importance of teaching Tibetan to their children in Dingri (Ch: Tingri) County, Shigatse (Ch: Xigaze) City, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Tibetan province of U-Tsang.
Early this year, Microsoft concluded that Chinese authorities were responsible for hacking thousands of Hotmail accounts belonging to Tibetans and Uyghurs. The hacking occurred from 2009-2011 and involved forwarding e-mails the victim received to an e-mail account controlled by the attacker. At the time Microsoft decided not to inform the victims because it could not identify the source of the…
A Tibetan monk was arrested and forcibly taken away by local police in Tawu (Ch: Daofu) County in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham.
Tsewang Chophel, 26, who is a monk at Nyitso Monastery, was detained on 18 May 2015. According to a source, “At around 10.30 am, while Tsewang Chophel was approaching on his bike, he was suddenly arrested by the Chinese police near the Chikshe village.”
As of now, no one knows the reason behind his arrest and his physical condition.
According to local Tibetans in Tawu, however, Tsewang Chophel had been under police surveillance ever since Tibetans in Tawu protested against the Chinese authorities following the self-immolation of monk Kelsang Yeshi on 23 December 2014.
Days after the violent crackdown on local Tibetans in Diru County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Chinese authorities in Lhasa City have issued a notification to various ‘convenience police posts’ in Lhasa and Nagchu to monitor the movement and activities of Nagchu Tibetans.
Human Rights Watch had earlier reported that by July 2012, 676 permanent “convenience police-posts” (Ch.: bian minjing wu zhan) had been set up in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). These are manned by police officers who are on duty around-the-clock.
According to the notification, police officers would use secret codes when relaying information in real time about the movement and activities of Tibetans visiting Lhasa from Nagchu. The notification mentions that police officers would use secret codes for Diru (Ch: Biru) County, Drachen (Ch: Bachen) County and Sog (Ch: Suo) County, all located in the eastern part of Nagchu Prefecture, when relaying information about individuals from these areas. For instance, the secret code for Diru County is “A”. It appears that each county in Nagchu Prefecture has been assigned a secret code for police surveillance.
2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), which was established in 1996. Over the past ten years, TCHRD has endeavored to uncover human rights violations in Tibet and reveal its findings to the rest of the world. The Centre’s location in Dharamsala in northern India allows it direct access to Tibetan refugees…