News

Thousands of Tibetan school children staged a protest march early today in Rebkong (Ch: Tongren) County where three Tibetans burned themselves alive in the past five days in Malho (Ch: Huangnan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province, in the Tibetan province of Amdo.

This is the second protest reported from Rebkong County after yesterday’s protest in which about 700 schoolchildren pulled down the five-starred Chinese flags hoisted on top of their school building in Dowa Township. Chinese flags on Dowa Township government office were also pulled down.

Three Tibetan monks in their mid-teens have burned themselves alive at around 3 pm yesterday in Ngaba (Ch: Aba) County of Ngaba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

Sources told TCHRD that the monks belonged to Ngoshul Monastery, located in Ngoshul nomadic village in Gomang Township, Ngaba County. Dorjee, 15, and Samdup, 16, and Dorjee Kyap, 16, set themselves on fire in front of a Public Security Bureau office calling for ‘return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet’ and ‘freedom for Tibet’ in Gomang Township in upper part of Ngaba County. Moments later, the PSB officers arrived on the scene and took the monks away.

Months after their arbitrary detention and disappearance, five Tibetan monks from Drango Monastery have been sentenced to varying terms of six to seven years for their alleged involvement in 23 January 2012 protest in Drango (Ch: Luhuo) County of Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

According to confirmed information received by TCHRD, Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, 40, a reincarnated lama and abbot of Gochen Monastery was sentenced to seven years in prison. Drango Monastery’s teacher Geshe Tsewang Namgyal, 42, and accountant Tashi Thupwang aka Dralha, 31, were sentenced to six years. The monastery’s shop manager Thinlay was sentenced to five years. Geshe Tenzin Palsang aka Tenga, senior caretaker of the monastery, was sentenced to six years.

A near-total information blockade has been imposed in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture where seven Tibetans burned themselves in protest in the past month.

Local authorities have clamped down on the Internet and mobile phone lines, imposing an indefinite ban on the sale of mobile SIM cards on three known shops in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) County, according to information received by TCHRD from a source with contacts in the region.

A month after his detention, a monk from Nyatso Zilkar Monastery has been sentenced to a year in prison for unknown charges, according to information received by TCHRD today.

As reported earlier by TCHRD, Tenzin Sherab, 28, was detained on 1 October at Zatoe (Ch: Zaduo) town in Tridu (Ch: Chenduo) County of Jyekundo (Ch: Yushu) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

The Xining Intermediate People’s Court handed the sentence in the absence of the monk’s family members and relatives, according to the source.

A Tibetan monk and educator who founded a social organization to preserve and promote Tibetan language was recently arrested by the Chinese authorities in Machu (Ch: Maqu) County in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.

Jinpa Gyatso, 38, a monk from Mayul Samten Choekorling Monastery in Machu, was arrested on 25 October at around 2 pm (local time) while he was on his way to meet an ailing senior lama from his monastery who was receiving treatment at a hospital in Tridu (Ch: Chengdu) city, Sichuan Province, as source told TCHRD.

“This heinous practice is not permitted under any circumstances. No exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked to justify an enforced disappearance.”

Jeremy Sarkin, UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (Nov. 2011)

Imagine a close loved one being taken into custody, held incommunicado for days, weeks, or even years, without any contact or communication with you or other family members. Imagine the mental anguish and torment of not knowing where they are, if they are being tortured or have been killed. In this respect, enforced disappearances have a “doubly paralyzing impact,” not only on the victims, but also on their loved ones who live in a constant state of anxiety and fear about the fate of the disappeared person. Today, TCHRD, on the eve of the 98th session of the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances, releases an introductory report and analysis on enforced disappearances in Tibet.

A Tibetan man died of self-immolation protest in Sangkhog Township in Labrang (Chinese: Xiahe) County of Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.

Tsepak Kyap, 21, set himself on fire at around 7 pm (local time) on 26 October in the street of Sangkhog town calling for the ‘Tibet’s freedom,’ ‘return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’ and ‘immediate release of all political prisoners including the 11th Panchen Lama,’ sources told TCHRD.

Another Tibetan layman who was a father of two died of self-immolation in Labrang (Chinese: Xiahe) County in Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.

Dorjee Rinchen, 58, set himself on fire at around 3.30 pm (local time) on 23 October in Labrang town. The protest was staged on the main street of Labrang town. Sources told TCHRD that the protest took place in front of the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) office, but other sources have reported that it occurred “near the military camp” in the area. Dorjee Rinchen died soon after.

“These Chinese are not letting us live in peace. It’s better to die, better to die.”

These were the last words uttered by father of two, Lhamo Kyap, 27, during a phone conversation, moments before he burned himself to death, according to detailed information received by TCHRD. Kyap made his last phone call to a friend as he stood beside his motorcycle near Bora Monastery waiting to set himself on fire.

Lhamo Kyap set himself on fire on 20 October near Bora Monastery in Sangchu (Chinese: Xiahe) County in Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province, traditionally in the province of Amdo, Eastern Tibet.

TCHRD can confirm that there was another self-immolation yesterday in Tibet. Dhondup, a nomad and farmer, aged around 65, set himself on fire yesterday morning about 9.30 am (Tibetan time) at the right side of a monastery called Serkhang, [གསེར་ཁང་ “golden house” or “golden temple”] in Labrang [Ch: Xiahe Tib: Sangchu County], in Kanlho (Ch: Gannan) Prefecture, Gansu province.

The self-immolation took place on the circumambulation route and near the entrance of Labrang Monastery. Eyewitnesses who saw the protest said the flames coming from his body produced a huge blaze.