News

A nephew of a Tibetan mother who died of self-immolation protest last week was suddenly detained without any explanation by the local police in Dokhog (Ch: Daogao) Township in Chone (Ch: Zhuoni) County, Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

Tenzin Soepa, a monk from the traditional Tibetan medical section of Choephel Shing Tashi Choekorling Monastery, was detained by local authorities on 28 May, a day after his aunt Sangyal Tso died of self-immolation protest in front of a Chinese government office near the monastery, according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

Local Tibetans are clueless as to the sudden arbitrary detention of Tenzin Soepa although a source told TCHRD that the monk was made a scapegoat as part of a crackdown on self-immolation protest staged by his aunt Sangyal Tso.

A well-known Tibetan singer was recently sentenced to prison after almost a year and a half of secret detention in Diru (Ch: Biru) County in Nagchu (Ch: Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Tibetan province of Kham.

Gonpo Tenzin, about 27, was sentenced on 15 April 2015 to three years and six months in prison, in addition to deprivation of political rights for four years, according to information received by Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

In the year 2012, the human rights situation in Tibet hit a new low even as Tibet remained closed to independent media, UN monitors, international fact-finding delegations or visitors. The Chinese government effectively blocked communication channels and prevented information about human rights abuses from going out of Tibet. Despite heavy surveillance and restrictions, individual Tibetans continued to let the world know about the real situation in Tibet often at great personal risk. As the UN Special Rapporteur on Right to Food told the Human Rights Council session in March 2012: “We know that regularly the communication systems: Internet, the phones, SMS’s are blocked and Tibet is completely closed to independent observers, including the media.”

A Tibetan father of one who self-immolated in protest against the Chinese government early this month is being treated in a hospital in Lanzhou city, capital of Gansu Province, according to reliable information received by TCHRD.

Sungdue Kyap, 29, set himself on fire at around 3 pm (local time) on 2 December on highway no. 213 near Bora Monastery in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.