A gigantic “Free Tibet” hoarding appears on an overpass in a busy commercial and shopping district in Taipei, Taiwan on June 1 this year. Also seen on the hoarding are Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic’s lead vocalist Freddy and bassist Doris who have long been active supporters of freedom and human rights. Photo: Guts United | Phayul[Monday, April 13, 2009 14:20] |
By Namgyal Kunga  The 10 Tibetan children who were in their undergarments chained themselves onto the barbed wire that surrounded the Chinese Embassy and shouted slogans calling for “freedom in Tibet” and “human rights in Tibet.” Nine of them were arrested by the police. The school children did not belong to any political group or NGO.  The protest comes days after China sentenced two Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak, to death for their alleged involvement in last year's protests in Lhasa. Two others, Phuntsok and Kangtsuk, were also sentenced to death but with a two-year reprieve, and Dawa Sangpo was sentenced to life imprisonment. “There is an immense crackdown and brutality being imposed on the Tibetan people inside Tibet. Chinese government in their 50 years Occupation of Tibet has failed to respect the sentiments of the Tibetan people. We have lost everything, our homes, families, friends, relatives and even our basic rights to live as human being. We have nothing more to lose”, said Dorjee.  "My parents were imprisoned for participating in a peaceful protest last year." said another student, Tsering, "I have no clue about their present condition. I came here to ask the Chinese government to release my parents and all the other innocent Tibetans who were imprisoned for expressing their feelings for Tibetan and devotion to His Holiness the Dalai Lama." This year marks 50 years of China's Occupation of Tibet. Tibetans both inside Tibet and in exile had to go through an immense suffering of separation. “I left Tibet because I was deprived of my right to education, freedom of speech, religion and movement. Thousands of Tibetan children like me cross the Himalayas every year to escape the oppression in Tibet." said Lodoe, another protester, “The oppression must end so that Tibetan parents no longer have to part with their children.” “I am thankful to India and the Indian people and this protest is in no way a disrespect to the sentiments of the Indian people. For us, this was the last thing we could do,” he added. |
| Phayul[Friday, April 10, 2009 15:12] |
Dharamsala, April 10 – Wednesday’s death sentence on two Tibetans by a Chinese court is being condemned worldwide by Tibetans and human rights groups. Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest pro-independence group of the exile Tibetan community, called the verdicts “partial” and accused China of abusing the judiciary system. The Amnesty International also condemned the death sentences saying China's Supreme People’s Court will have to review the death sentences, as it does in all death penalty cases. “We have recorded a pattern of unfair trials leading to death sentences in China. Under these conditions it's very unlikely that these sentences stand up. We urge the death sentences to be overturned", said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International’s Asia Pacific Director. Tibetan Youth Congress said it “condemns the highly biased and politically motivated verdict of the court and the judiciary system of China which purposely serves to meet the demands and wishes of the Chinese Communist Government and its policies.” The Tibetan NGO said the verdicts further “underline the Chinese communist government's fifty years of disparaging occupation of Tibet and its fatal ongoing policy of destroying the Tibetans as a race, culture and people.” The Tibetan Youth Congress say the Tibetans were not provided legal rights of being represented by lawyers of their choice. It said China should try the Tibetans in a "fair court with attorney of the defendant's choice and representatives either from independent human rights monitoring organizations or the United nations". According to Amnesty International research China carried out at least 1,718 executions in 2008 and sentenced 7,003 people to death. |
| Phayul[Wednesday, April 08, 2009 20:26] |
Kalsang Rinchen Dharamsala, April 8 — Two Tibetans have been sentenced to death by the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court today in what the Chinese state media described as “arson cases that left seven people dead and five shops burned to the ground in Lhasa,” last March. It was the first report of death sentences given out for the March 14 violence in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, that Chinese officials say killed 22 people but the exile Tibetan government claims more than 200 Tibetans have been killed by the Chinese forces. Lobsang Gyaltsen was sentenced to death for burning two clothing shops in downtown Lhasa on March 14, killing a shop owner, according to Chinese state media Xinhua. Loyak, was given the death penalty for his role in the burning of a motorcycle shop that killed the owner, his wife, his son, and two employees, Xinhua said. Two other Tibetans, Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk, have been given suspended death sentences with two year reprieve. Another Tibetan named Dawa Sangpo has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Exile Tibetan government’s spokesperson has told Associated Press those sentenced had not received a fair trial and warned of even greater resentment among Tibetans. "These decisions are made by a kangaroo court of law. There is no proper legal defense for the accused," AP quoted Thupten Samphel as saying. "These kinds of decisions increase China's Tibet problem. China should show magnanimity to make Tibetan people less resentful." The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), a Tibetan NGO monitoring human rights in Tibet, condemned the verdicts saying they clearly “highlight the current level of repression in Tibet where state agencies freely abuse the human rights of the Tibetan people with impunity.” TCHRD calls the verdicts “an intimidation being passed onto the Tibetans who dare show their dissent with the state.” The centre says around 230 Tibetans have received varying prison terms for their participation in the spring protest last year. |
| Phayul[Friday, April 03, 2009 14:10] |
By Kalsang Rinchen  The banner reads "appealing to the court to conduct fair judicial proceedings in accordance with the law" The monks held a large banner with wordings that appealed to the court for fair judicial proceedings for Tibetan protesters. The monks who began the sit-in around 8AM (Beijing Time) were reportedly taken away by the local Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers, said the centre that monitors human rights situation in Tibet, adding that their current whereabouts are not known. In another incident, two nuns of Dragkar Nunnery in Kardze were arrested on March 24. Yankyi Dolma and Sonam Yangchen staged a peaceful protest at the main square of the market in Kardze county around 3PM (Beijing Time), calling for the ‘return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet,’ ‘human rights in Tibet’ and 'religious freedom in Tibet'.  Yankyi Dolma (TCHRD photo) Around 7 PM in the evening, security forces stormed into Yangkyi’s home roughing up the portrait of the Dalai Lama and ‘rebuked the family members for being supporters of ‘separatist forces’. Two Chinese security officials summoned her brother Tsangyang Gyatso to the Kardze County government headquarters the following day (March 25), the centre said, adding that there is no information about what happened thereafter. Yangkyi Dolma was born to Hormeytsang Dargay (father) and Pema Khando(mother) in Roltsa Township, Kardze County, Kardze “TAP” Sichuan Province. Apart from sporadic incidents of protests a major civil disobedience movement is gaining momentum in Kardze with farmers continuing to defy authorities’ orders to till their farmland in protest against China’s repression, the centre said. According to sources, the local Chinese authorities in Drango County in Kardze have given ultimatum to the Tibetan farmers to till their farmland before 11 April failing which their farmland will be confiscated by the government. Since March 10, around 28 known incidents of protests were reported from Kardze alone with arrests of around 60 Tibetans, the center said, adding that many other protests, beatings and arrests went unaccounted for due to strict control on the flow of information. |
| The Press Association[Thursday, April 02, 2009 19:38] |
The Prince of Wales has been urged to speak out in support of Tibet when he holds a private meeting with the Chinese president on Thursday. The Free Tibet campaign group has written to Charles listing a range of human rights concerns it hopes the heir to the throne will bring up during his discussions with President Hu Jintao. The Prince, who once described China's leaders as "appalling old waxworks", will meet the president at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London. The historic move will be seen as an important step in the Prince's previously uneasy relations with China and part of the general thawing of his dealings with the republic. China sent thousands of troops into Tibet in 1950 to enforce its claim on the territory, but over the decades has been criticised by human rights organisations for its governance of the region. Last year fatal clashes between anti-Chinese protesters and the authorities in the region led to 6,000 people being arrested but more than 1,000 are still unaccounted for, according to Free Tibet. A spokesman for the organisation said the questions they have forwarded to the Prince include asking President Hu to investigate the excessive violence it is claimed was used during last year's protests and urging that Chinese troops in the territory should not be used against unarmed protestors. The president should also be encouraged to hold meetings with representatives of the Tibetan people. Charles is a supporter of the Dalai Lama - Tibet's spiritual leader - who is seen by China as a separatist threat. The Free Tibet spokesman said the territory was now under "de facto martial law" and that the Dalai Lama had described the situation as a "living hell". He added: "Prince Charles is an extremely good friend of the Dalai Lama, I'm certain he's seen the Dalai Lama's comments and hopes that the letter we've sent to him very much encourages him to take action and show support for Tibet in the same way he has done in the past." |
| Phayul[Monday, March 30, 2009 18:53] |
By Kalsang Rinchen  Phuntsok, 27, was beaten to death by police, says TCHRD. Photo/TCHRD The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said today Chinese security police beat a Tibetan monk to death on March 25. Phuntsok, a Tibetan monk from Drango County, Kardze, was beaten severely for pasting anti government leaflets on walls of his locality, according to TCHRD. Citing sources, TCHRD reported that Phuntsok “pasted leaflets on the walls of a branch office of Drango PSB headquarter, on Shara Thang-do Bridge and on eucalyptus trees of roads and highways in Drango County.” TCHRD said that Phuntsok's protest was deliberately timed to express his solidarity with his fellow monks of Drango monastery who were tortured, ill-treated and imprisoned during protests last year in March. Phuntsok campaigned to urge the local Tibetans in Drango County to cancel farming activities as a “gesture of mourning for monks who were tortured, detained and imprisoned by the Chinese authorities.” Phuntsok was spotted by PSB officials as he was pasting his leaflets on the walls of an automobile service centre, sources told TCHRD, adding that he immediately fled on a motorbike but was caught and beaten up with batons. According to the TCHRD, the Chinese police describe Phuntsok’s death as suicide but a report by Reuters today said an employee at the People's Hospital in Luhuo county confirmed the death but attributed it to a motorbike accident. On March 27, the People's Armed Police (PAP) arrested 11 Tibetans from Da-do Village for defying the Chinese authorities’ order to till their farm lands, the TCHRD said. They were paraded in the village, according to the TCHRD, which said their whereabouts are unknown except that they were last seen in a hospital surrounded by PAP officials. |
