


A Tibetan man succumbed to burn injuries early morning on 24 December after he committed self-immolation to protest repressive policies of the Chinese government in Tibet. Meanwhile Chinese authorities have detained the deceased’s father on unknown charges.
Konpey, 30, carried out the self-immolation protest at around 6 pm on 23 December in Ngaba County town in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo. A 6-second video footage that has become available on social media shows Konpey wrapped in flames and running while a Tibetan woman witnessing the scene is heard crying and supplicating to His Holiness the Dalai Lama: “Your Holiness Tenzin Gyatso, please keep him in your prayers! ” Other onlookers are heard shouting, ‘Kyi Hi Hi ’, a cry of protest, defiance and resistance in the Tibetan tradition. The force of the fire was so strong that it drowned the exact slogans shouted by Konpey.


Chinese authorities released a Tibetan man from prison before the completion of his term to avoid responsibility for his imminent death due to torture injuries. Meanwhile his daughter has been refused school admission because her father had engaged in political activities in the past.
Shonu Palden, 40, was released on 24 July 2013 before the completion of his prison term. He was released early, having served only a little over a year of his two years and nine months sentence, because continued incarceration would have led to his death in prison. Since his early release, he has undergone two massive surgeries in a local hospital to treat various health complications including a serious heart condition he developed in detention. He suffers from blocked arteries, weak eyesight, and breathing and hearing problems.

Today, 10 December, is International Human Rights Day marking the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), a set of principles that articulated for the first time the equal and inalienable entitlement…