FREE TIBET LEAFLET LEADS TO CHAMDO MONK'S DEATH

In May 1996 Chinese "workteams" raided the Chamdo monastery for photographs of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama. Finding pro-independence leaflets, three monks connected to this were arrested. One of those monks is now dead, following severe beatings and torture by prison authorities. More than five hundred monks have now been expelled from the monastery.

On 30 May 1996, Chinese officials raided the room of every monk in Chamdo Monastery and confiscated all pictures of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. While searching the rooms they also discovered some political leaflets calling for a Free Tibet. Three monks were subsequently arrested in connection with the leaflets and taken to Chamdo Prison. The monks were: Soepa, a 24 year old from Tsawa Bhema; Jamyang Thinley, aged 25 from Tsawa Bhenda and Gonpo Sonam, a 30 year old from Tsawa.

After four months in Chamdo prison, Jamyang Thinley was released on 13 September 1996 on medical grounds. As a result of severe torture and beatings by prison officials, Jamyang's state became critical. The possible consequences now represented a serious threat to the prison authorities and Jamyang was quickly released. Only five days after his release, Jamyang Thinley succumbed to death.

Jamyang Khedrup saw the body of Jamyang Thinley prior to cremation. He reported, "His entire back and neck had blisters as a result of being subjected to electrocution. He had marks of having been beaten so badly that it was black and blue all over. There were also patches of clotted blood on certain areas of his stomach".

The other two monks, Soepa and Gonpo Sonam, currently remain in prison.

This was reported to TCHRD by Jamyang Khedrup, a 24 year old monk from Chamdo Monastery in Chamdo County in north-eastern Tibet. He originates from the village of Nyephu under the township of Nyeshe, Chamdo.

He joined the monastery when he was just 14 years old. For eight of his ten years in the monastery, he held various responsibilities with regard to the monastery's administration.

Jamyang tried on two occasions to escape to India. On the first attempt he was caught in Lhatse, close to the southern city of Shigatse. He was detained for eight days within which time all of his belongings, even his scriptures, were confiscated. He was then sent back to Lhasa.

Jamyang's second attempt to flee was successful. He left Lhasa on 5 December 1997 and finally reached India 17 days later on February 18 1997.

A few months before Jamyang Khedrup left his monastery, he was able to sneak a look at the registration book of the monastery. He discovered that, while the initial record showed 1500 monks in Chamdo Monastery, only 961 monks remained registered at the monastery.

Jamyang says this substantial reduction in monks was a direct result of the "Strike Hard" campaign launched by Chinese "workteams" in the monastery on 30 May 1996. The workteams consisted of officials from 18 different departments including the Public Security Bureau (PSB), the Religious Bureau and the Monastery Management Committee.

In June 1996, the workteams raided every house in the locality for photographs of His Holiness the Dalai lama and the Panchen Lama, Gedun Choekyi Nyima. The only photographs which were not confiscated were those of the Dalai Lama taken together with Mao Tse Tung.

On 30 August 1996, the work teams conducted the political re-education campaign based on the five principles: opposition to separatism; unity of Tibet and China; recognition of the Chinese appointed Panchen Lama; denial that Tibet was or should be independent and agreement that the Dalai Lama is destroying the unity of the people.

The monks were ordered to accept the five principles and oppose the Dalai Clique who, they were told, had gone beyond his realm of spiritual authority and was now indulging in political "splittist" activities. The monks expressed their opposition by coughing and sleeping during the sessions of "re-education" and dismissively shaking their robes.

In a new attempt to "re-educate", each monk was taken into a single room and was interrogated on the five principles. The monks commonly responded that "love for country and religion is possible", as decreed in the principles, but that "there is absence of freedom of religion". Moreover, the monks said, "We do not know the concept of splittist and so there is no reason why we should oppose it". The monks who gave these "unsatisfactory" answers were ordered to leave the monastery.

Jamyang Khedrup believes that the "Strike Hard" campaign will continue to be conducted with the same impetus by Chinese officials.

Ngawang Rigdrol is a 24 year old nun. She is currently serving seven years' imprisonment for taking part in a peaceful demonstration and today is almost completely blind. In mid-June 1992, she carried the forbidden Tibetan national flag during a pro-independence protest around the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet.

For the first one month and twelve days following her arrest, Ngawang was kept in solitary confinement in Gutsa Detention Centre. During interrogation sessions, she was reportedly stripped naked and tied to a chair. After six months in Gutsa, Ngawang was sentenced to seven years imprisonment and subsequently transferred to Drapchi Prison.

In April 1995, reports indicated that Ngawang Rigdrol's eyesight had deteriorated and that she could not see well. The reasons for this are unknown, although she may have suffered temporary damage from the solitary confinement in a darkened room in 1992.

Ngawang Rigdrol's arrest coincided with a crackdown on Garu nunnery, where she lived. This nunnery, 5 kilometres north of Lhasa, has been a centre of pro- independence activity since 19 December 1987. On that day, 20 Garu nuns led the first of nearly 50 protests that have been staged by nuns in Lhasa over the past five years. Sources report that over half of the known protests in Lhasa since 1987 have been led by Buddhist nuns.

A political "re-education" workteam was reported to have been installed in the nunnery in 1993 to begin intensive re- education. The re-education work team is reportedly attempting to coerce the nuns into accepting a new code of discipline which includes the banning of any political or dissident activity.

Ngawang is the sixth child in her family of two boys and nine girls. Her father is 71 years old and her mother passed away in 1994. Ngawang was allowed visitors only on the 15th day of each month. When her mother became critically ill, the family's request for visitation rights was denied. Thus Ngawang was not able to see her mother prior to her death. Ngawang has kept alive her courage and determination despite having been subjected to repeated inhumane treatment while in prison. Now 24

years old, she is almost blind. The little vision she retains is totally blurred and objects appear obscure. She has suffered regular beatings in prison and her right arm has been so badly damaged that she is not even able to lift a mug. Severe nerve impairment has resulted in the uncontrollable shaking of her hands.

Prison authorities have told her friends and relatives to advise Ngawang to reform her behaviour. They report that she exhibits a total disgust and disregard for prison regulations. When relatives, concerned for Ngawang's health, plead with her to keep a low profile, her common response is, "I have no fear of dying in prison. I will sacrifice my life for my country. May His Holiness the Dalai Lama live long".

China announced plans on 6 March to introduce harsh new provisions to its Criminal Law targetted at "terrorist" control in Tibet and Xinjiang.

Stressing the need "to deal telling blows at such offences", the vice chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC), Mr Wang Hanbin, announced draft provisions that would add up to 10 years in prison to any sentence for homicide, explosion or kidnapping carried out as a terrorist act. Of particular relevance to independence activists in Tibet and Xinjiang is the legal amendment whereby "offenders taking advantage of national or religious problems to instigate the splitting of the State or undermine the unity of the State" will be charged under severe provisions for "endangering State Security". Previously such activities were labelled as "counter-revolutionary" offences, a charge which carried heavy sentences and has been used extensively against Tibetans demonstrating any form of support for independence or for the Dalai Lama.

The amendments, due to be passed mid-March at the closing session of the NPC, are part of a number of proposed changes to the Chinese Criminal Law purporting to strengthen the rights of the accused. However, the new reworded provisions are reportedly even wider than the originals and will still enable convictions for the exercise of the right to freedom of expression. Instead of 15 charges of counter-revolution, some 11 charges of endangering state security will be used, with additional clauses of "undermining national unification" and of accepting funds from foreign organisations.

A further addition is the charge of "enciting ethnic hatred" which will carry a three-year prison sentence.

Jampa Ngodrup, a doctor from Lhasa, is currently serving a 13 year prison sentence in Drapchi Prison in Tibet. He was charged as an "agent" for his efforts to record the names of those arrested or injured during two pro-independence demonstrations which took place in Lhasa in 1988. Ill-treatment in prison has meant that Jampa is no longer able to walk without the aid of crutches.

Jampa Ngodrup is a 45 year-old man from Lhasa. Until 1959 he was a monk and then practised as a doctor of Tibetan medicine at the Barkhor Nangrong East Clinic (Chengguan Qu Barkhor Clinic). He is described as being very straightforward.

Jampa's father, Rinzin Lhundrup Paljor, was also a doctor who owned a private medical school and therefore it was not necessary for Jampa to undergo any formal education in medicine. He started studying medicine at home when he was just 9 years old and around the age of 16 he started to practise.

The family has a long standing legacy of medical practice and Jampa Ngodrup represents the sixth generation. His father and mother, Tsering Palmo, are no longer living. He has one older brother, one older sister and one younger brother. All are medical practitioners.

Jampa was first detained, for unknown reasons, on October 27, 1987. He was again detained on 20 October 1989, and this time was held without charge for ten months until 13 August 1990 when he was officially charged.

Tried in Lhasa Municipal People's Court on 24 December 1990, he was sentenced the following day. The decision characterised the verdict as necessary "in order to strengthen the unity of the motherland ... and to stabilise the democratic rights of the people".

Jampa Ngodrup, who allegedly "confessed", was described as "harbouring counter-revolutionary aims".

According to Chinese authorities, Jampa had committed two crimes. The first was when he gave Lhamo Yangchen, a Tibetan woman, the names of some of those arrested during the Lhasa demonstration on 5 March 1988.

In December 1988, Lhamo Yangchen gave Jampa a list of arrested from the 10 December 1988 demonstration. Jampa made a copy of the list. Lhamo Yangchen was considered a "foreign resident" by the Chinese and the list was considered "state secrets". As a result Jampa Ngodrup was charged

under Article 97(1) of the Chinese Criminal Code. This article deals generally with acts of espionage and section 1 deals specifically with "stealing or secretly gathering or providing intelligence for the enemy".

Jampa's sentence paper was issued on 24 October 1990. It stated that he would be held imprisoned for 13 years and deprived of four years political rights. His prison term was to run from 20 October 1989 to 19 October 2002 and thus included the time since he was initially detained.

Jampa Ngodrup is presently held in the fifth Division of Drapchi Prison. In May 1993 he was reportedly severely ill from prison maltreatment. He is suffering extreme fluid retention such that his entire body is bloated, he is unable to walk without the help of crutches and it is suspected that he may have tuberculosis.

The Chinese Government's policy of transferring Chinese settlers into Tibet represents an immediate threat to the existence of the Tibetan people.

In contravention of humanitarian law which stipulates that "an occupying power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies" (article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, 1949) there are today an estimated 7.5 million non-Tibetans in Tibet. The 6 million Tibetans are being increasingly marginalised in spheres of cultural, economic and political life. China makes no secret of its policy of transferring a large number of Chinese "experts" and cadres into Tibet, offering substantial salary, housing and holiday incentives to Chinese settlers. The growing discrimination faced by Tibetans in areas of employment, housing, education and health as a result of the Chinese influx now faces a new boost.

In 1992 China approved plans to dam the Yangtze River and create the world's biggest hydro-electric power project. According to Mr Qi Lin, head of the resettlement for the project, in an announcement on 5 March 1997, the

project will require the displacement of approximately 1.2 million people to make way for the reservoir, of which some 60,000 have already been moved. Mr Lin added that authorities in the two provinces affected - Sichuan and Hubei - were encouraging people to move to under-populated regions, which are generally impoverished areas such as Xinjiang, Tibet and Gansu. The entire project is due to be fully completed by 2009, and the problems of forced migration and ecological changes have been effectively swept aside by the promise of vast economic returns. "The advantages of building this dam far outweigh the disadvantages", said Mr Lu Youmei, managing director of the Three Gorges Project Development Corp.

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy
Narthang Building
Gangchen Kyishong
Dharamsala H.P., India
Ph: +91 1892 22457/22510
Fax: +91 1892 24957
E-mail: diir@dsala.tibet.in

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Last updated: 12-Aug-97