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“Since China is uninterested in the well-being of the Tibetan people, we are sharpening our nonviolent movement. We are declaring the reality of Tibet by burning our own bodies to call for freedom of Tibet … We will win the battle through truth, by shooting the arrows of our lives, by using the bow of our mind.’
— Gudrup

Though the hungry wolves in witching pandas’ skin
Devour our people and leave our land a wasteland
Though we fall into the esurient embrace of a predatory enemy
There will be no white flags upon our doors.
— “No White Flags”, Shakapba

The morning of 22 October 2012, TCHRD received information from a reliable source that at 9.45am (Tibet time) a Tibetan man has self-immolated near the Labrang monastery in Sangchu county, Amdo, Eastern Tibet.…

A Tibetan political prisoner who has spent 24 years in prison, is expected to be released next year if the prison authorities conclude that he has exhibited “good behavior” during his imprisonment, according to information received by TCHRD.
Lobsang Tenzin, the longest-serving known political prisoner in Tibet, is serving life imprisonment in Chushur (Chinese: Qushui) Prison, located in the northern part of Lhasa.
TCHRD has reported earlier that Lobsang Tenzin will be released this year. But sources now inform TCHRD that he will be released next year if his conduct in prison is deemed “good” by the authorities.

A Tibetan porter’s personal account of the anguish, heartbreak and struggle he and other Tibetans faced on trying to re-enter Tibet. Their crime: attempting to attend the Kalachakra teachings in India.

Tibetan porter, Trinley Norbu gives this first-hand, moving account of the struggle and anguish he and three other ordinary Tibetans faced on re-entering Tibet after their attempt to attend the Kalachakra teachings in India was blocked by the Nepali authorities. The TCHRD got exclusive access to this human story of how he and four other men were detained several times in Tibet before they were driven back to Nepal. It’s a story of how they were denied entry to their homeland and access to their families simply for wanting to attend Buddhist teachings; and of how other ordinary, working Tibetans faced imprisonment, beatings, deception and paranoid questionings regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the exiled political head Lobsang Sangay. Norbu’s testimony also tragically reveals the complicity of the Chinese and Nepalese authorities (taking photos of themselves together); and how the Tibetans became caught in ‘a no-man’s land’ being sent back and forth like pawns between the Nepalese and Chinese police corruption. Their torment finally came to an end when UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, came to their aid in a Nepalese prison. Here is Trinley Norbu’s account in full:

A monk from Nyatso Zilkar Monastery has been detained in Zatoe (Chinese: Zaduo) town, Tridu (Chinese: Chenduo) County in Jyekundo (Chinese: Yushu), Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, monk Tenzin Sherab, 28, was arrested at Zatoe town by local security officers around 9 am (Tibet Time), on 1 October 2012, for unknown reasons.

A source with contacts in the area informed TCHRD that the family members of Sherab had approached the local Public Security Bureau office to inquire about the monk’s whereabouts, but had failed to get any information.

Two Tibetan men have been sentenced to seven years 6 months and seven years respectively by an Intermediate People’s Court in Barkham (Chinese: Ma’erkang), capital of Ngaba, Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

A lay Tibetan, Thupdor, 25, was sentenced to seven years and six months for sending information out of Tibet and making contacts with outsiders, a reliable source informs TCHRD. Lobsang Tashi, 26, a monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County, was sentenced to seven years for the same charges. The court in Barkham passed down the sentences on 18 September 2012.

Both men are now serving their sentence at Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province.

The Chinese authorities in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Prefecture, Sichuan Province, have sentenced two teenage Tibetan monks to 11 and 8 years in prison.
In the beginning of September 2012, Lobsang Tsultrim, 19, a monk at Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County was sentenced to 11 years in prison, according to a reliable source with close contacts in the region.

Another Kirti Monastery monk, Lobsang Jangchup, 17, was sentenced to 8 years around the same time, according to the source.

In the end of March 2012, both monks were detained from their monastic residence by local security officers on unknown charges. Their families and relatives had no information about their whereabouts until the news of their sentencing, which was received in the end of September 2012.

More details have emerged on the case of Tsering Gyaltsen, 40, a monk from Drango Monastery who was severely beaten and detained by security forces amid the crackdown that followed the 23 January 2012 protest in Drango (Chinese: Luhuo) County in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.

On 9 February 2012, Tsering Gyaltsen was severely beaten by security forces and then taken to a hospital in Kardze. A source told TCHRD that Gyaltsen suffered a broken spine from the beatings, and died the same day at the hospital.

“Tsering Gyaltsen died the day he was hospitalized because the doctors could not treat the injuries he suffered during the police beatings,” the source said. “In addition to broken spine, he must have received other serious injuries.”

Shonu, a monk and staff member of Drango Monastery, whose whereabouts were unknown since his arrest in February 2012, is in Mianyang Prison (Sichuan Province), a source with contacts in Tibet informed TCHRD.
According to the source, Shonu, 42, was sentenced in June 2012 to 18 months in prison for charges unknown at this time.
In February 2012, security officers detained Shonu and four other staff members of Drango Monastery at an Internet café in Tridu (Chinese: Chengdu) city, capital of Sichuan Province. The whereabouts of the four monk officials: Tulku Lobsang Tenzin, a reincarnated lama; Geshe Tsewang Namgyal, a teacher and staff member; Thinlay, manager; and Tashi Topgyal aka Dralha, accountant; remain unknown to this day.

Less than a year after his self-immolation protest, Tibetan monk Dawa Tsering is now making good recovery from his burn injuries, but his future remains uncertain, a source with contacts in Tibet tells TCHRD today.

“Dawa Tsering has got his life back and his health condition is quite well,” the source says. “And he longs to return back to his monastery.”

“But his future remains unknown and uncertain because he might not be allowed to return back to his monastery. Instead, he could be jailed at any time,” the source adds.

A Tibetan political prisoner who was released last year after serving a three-year sentence is in poor health with multiple medical complications, reported his niece, Nyidon, in a recent interview with TCHRD.

Born in Kora Township in Karze (Chinese: Ganzi) County, Nyidon escaped into India with an overriding mission: “To tell the story of my uncle to the world” as China continues to keep a tight lid on information coming out of Tibet.