Subject: Human Rights Update
TIBETAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
AUGUST 31, 1997
VOLUME II: NUMBER 16
TIBETAN EXECUTED ON FALSE CHARGES
A recent arrival from Tibet has reported the execution of 30 year-old Gonpo Tsering who was said by Chinese authorities to have killed a Chinese official during a dispute over the collection of taxes. Gonpo Tsering is from Kamoche village of Bayer Shang in Choni county, now incorporated into the Chinese province of Gansu. One year after he was executed, the same Chinese official who Gonpo had been accused of murdering was seen alive in a town nearby.
The source reported that the Chinese authorities usually came to collect taxes in August or September of every year. In August 1995, three tax officials went to the house of Gonpo Tsering for the collection of tax. Gonpo's family of eight members was required to pay 50 gyama (approximately 25 kg) of barley per individual as a tax to the Chinese government.
The family paid the total tax of 400 gyama (200 kg) without dispute. Later that same month the Chinese officials returned to Gonpo's home demanding more taxes and forcibly took half a sack of barley weighing about 50 kg.
In the same month, twelve Public Security Bureau officials stormed into the house for the third time. The officials reportedly seated themselves comfortably and demanded more barley tax. Says the source, "I don't know why that family was targeted for this harsh tax treatment. I don't believe it was uniform, but some other families were also targeted with no apparent reason."
He says that the family pleaded with the officials, saying that they had already paid two lots of tax and that they no longer had enough barley for their own consumption. Despite their appeals, the Chinese officials continued to demand payment and, in the confrontation that ensued, one of the officials hit Gonpo Tsering over the head with a stick.
In retaliation, Gonpo took a knife from the kitchen and slashed the head of an official. The wound was bleeding heavily and Gonpo was arrested on the spot and taken to an unknown destiny.
Two days after Gonpo was taken away, the family was notified to collect his dead body for cremation. His parents were reportedly ordered to bear not only the cremation costs but an additional 200 yuan to cover the cost of the bullets used to shoot their son. "It was known in that area that the family of someone executed by the Chinese authorities must bear the execution cost," said the source.
The Chinese officials told Gonpo's family that the wounded official had died two days later and that Gonpo was therefore executed for murder. Says the source, "One year later, that official who had been declared dead due to Gonpo's actions was seen cycling around the town closest to Kamoche village."
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83 TIBETAN WOMEN STERILISED
Since the start of this year, 83 Tibetan women have been sterilised "through various means" in Chukok Sonak town, Rebkong district, under Qinghai province where Chinese authorities have launched a strict birth control policy. In 1996 nine Tibetan women were sterilised and 32 were required to use contraceptives.
These figures were provided by the the Qinghai Tibetan daily newspaper published on 12 March 1997. In conjunction with extensive propaganda, six general meetings were held in Rebkong district calling on officials in the area to implement the birth control policy.
On 12 February 1997, the same newspaper reported that a meeting on birth control in the province had been called at the start of 1997 in Siling (Ch: Xining), Qinghai's capital. During the meeting the birth control policy for the 1996 year was analysed and plans for 1997 were concluded.
The meeting also fixed strict regulations to control the birth rate and the population of the province. Economic sanctions and prizes were to be given to officials and couples who followed the regulations and those who refused to follow the birth control policy would be punished. The head of Siling city and the Tibet Autonomous Prefectures of Tso-lho, Ma-lho, Tso-Jang, Tso-nub and Tso-shar were each given incentives to encourage the implementation of the birth control policy in their repective regions.
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DEAD CHILD DELIVERED AFTER FORCED CONTRACEPTIVE
"According to what I have seen, the Chinese authorities have been implementing the birth control policy in my area since February or March of 1997. I saw a woman who lives next door to my uncle be inserted with a contraceptive and then four months later she brought home a dead baby," says 13 year old Jampa Tenzin who recently fled Tibet. He reports on the systematic insertion of a long-term contraceptive in all Tibetan women in his area above 16 years of age. From Jampa's description the device seems to work, like the contaceptive "Norplant", through the gradual release of hormones.
Jampa lived with his uncle in Doba village, Jamdoon Shang, in Drayab county in the "Tibetan Autonomous Region". He says, "There are about 100 to 150 households in my village. Jamdoon is the closest town to our village; it is bigger and better facilitated than the villages. The Chinese authorities have established a hospital and an animal husbandry there. As far as I know, there are ten villages surrounding Jamdoon shang (town): Chon-go, Dzo-ku, Go-tu, Re-li, Da-do, Lho-lung, Lha-sung, Tse-sung, La-Phag Gon, and Yong-po.
Immediately upon arriving in my village the Chinese officials called a meeting of the village elders and ordered that all girls above 16 years of age must undergo birth control operations. Tibetan women living in all the nearby villages were ordered by the Chinese authorities to come to the Jamdoon hospital to be forcibly inserted with a contraceptive.
I have actually seen this contraceptive being inserted. A small cut is made at the top of the woman's arm , a small piece of rubber tube is inserted and then it is stitched back up. They say that the insertion of this contraceptive works for five to ten years to prevent a baby forming in the womb.
I heard of three cases of women from my village who, after being forced to undergo such an operation while they were pregnant, gave birth to dead babies. Many Tibetan women must undergo this operation even in the later stages of pregnancy.
I personally saw one of these three cases. The woman was the daughter-in-law of the Paikok family who lived next to my uncle's house. She was almost five months pregnant when the officials operated on her, inserting this type of contraceptive into her arm.
Later she went to Chamdo for the delivery of her baby but the baby was dead when it was born. I saw the dead child when the mother brought it home. The Chinese officials later threatened Tibetans in the area with dire consequences if anyone dared speak of the delivery of the dead child.
If the Tibetan women don't turn up for the operation, they are fined between 1500 to 3000 yuan. (Between US$ 200 to $400). This amount is a lot for the poor Tibetan people and so finally, even though they don't want to, they must undergo this operation. Now every Tibetan woman in the villages above 16 years has been operated on."
Jampa Tenzin arrived in India in August 1997. He was sent into exile by his family in order to receive education. Although he attended a school in Chamdo for three years, he was forced to leave because he was not able to follow the lessons. The teachers at the school were reportedly sent by Chinese authorities from Amdo and U-Tsang and, as Jampa and others in his area spoke a Kham dialect, he says that he could not understand them. Leaving his uncle and parents behind, he escaped Tibet together with his twelve year old cousin.
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HERMITS FORCED TO GIVE UP RETREAT
Hermits in Tibet are being forced to give up their religious retreats as they fall subject to Chinese "Re-education" sessions and "government taxes".
Kunchok Chodup, 42 years old, comes from Sangshu village in Gabde county under Golok Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (incorporated into Qinghai province). He joined Lungkya monastery at the age of 22 and studied there for the next four years. At the time there were 300 monks in total in the monastery.
As the monastery was not within Kunchok's home locality, it was mandatory to seek special permission from the Chinese authorities to stay in the monastery. Kunchok reports; "It is a well-known fact that this permission is never granted. Therefore I had to leave the monastery.
After that I travelled to central Tibet where, from 1995, I spent two years in retreat at the Samye Chenpo hermitage. Samye Chenpo is located in the Samye township in Tranag county under Lhoka county. I left the hermitage on 23 March 1997.
During the years I was in the hermitage there were 200 hermits in total, comprising both monks and nuns. The Samye hermitage is part of the larger eighth century Samye monastery. Local Tibetans are the source of our livelihood; they provide us with food during our stay in the retreat.
We heard people saying that a Chinese work team would be arriving at Samye monastery on 8 April 1997 to conduct 'Re-education' and, soon after, many hermits voluntarily left the monastery, most of them on the pretext of going for a pilgrimage within Tibet. There are now only 30 to 40 hermits left in the hermitage; the rest have left, either with or without a pass.
It is a rule that a hermit must be granted a pass from the county authorities to go into the retreat. A sum of 30 yuan is charged for the pass from each hermit and 3 yuan is subsequently charged every month from the senior hermits and between 6 to 20 yuan from a newly joined hermit as a 'government tax'.
As the hermits' only source of income is donations received from pilgrims and local inhabitants, the required tax must be paid from this. Tibetans normally come for pilgrimage at the hermitage from the 3rd to the 10th day of the first month of the Tibetan lunar calendar and from the 6th day to the 15th day in the holy month of Saka Dawa - the fourth month of the Tibetan calendar.
During that time all the hermits congregate to receive alms in the form of money, butter and barley flour in order to survive for the rest of the year in the retreat. The Chinese-imposed taxes mean that the hermits are no longer able to survive in this way."
In 1993, Topgyal, together with Sholpa Dawa, decided to do something concrete to make the world aware of the situation in Tibet. They began the task of putting together a list of current and former political prisoners in the Lhasa area. It was the hope of both Tibetans, both elderly men, that they would be able to somehow get the document out of Tibet. Today both men are serving lengthyprison sentences in an unknown Chinese prison somewhere in Tibet.
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PROFILE: SIX YEARS FOR PRISONERS LIST
Topgyal (also known as Tsempo Topgyal - "tsempo" meaning "tailor"), a 58 year old private tailor in Lhasa (other sources describe him as a businessman) was originally from Tsang-do township in Lhundrub County in the "Tibet Autonomous Region".
In 1993 Topgyal and Sholpa Dawa (or Shol Dawa - profiled in Human Rights Update of March 31, 1997), a 60 year old Lhasa tailor, reportedly obtained a list of prisoners' names from two former political prisoners, Dondrup Dorje and Ratoe Dawa. They were said to have been compiling a list of current and released political prisoners to send abroad.
Their activities were not discovered until more than two years later. In August 1995, just before the 30th anniversary of the founding of the "Tibet Autonomous Region", a group of former activists, including Sholpa Dawa and Dondrup Dorje, were reportedly detained by Chinese authorities who suspected they may disrupt the celebrations. Topgyal's involvement in the prisoner list was believed to have been uncovered during interrogations of the group.
Topgyal and Sholpa Dawa were tried by the Lhasa Intermediate people's Court on 8 August 1996. The charge of "counter-revolution", commonly used against Tibetan independence activists in the past, is to be phased out under new criminal legislation to go into effect on 1 October 1997 in China. Topgyal and Sholpa Dawa were therefore charged with the crime of "endangering state
security".
In the court's concluding decision, issued as "Lhasa Criminal Court Trial Document No. 48 (1996)", the three judges ruled; "This court holds that the defendants Xuedawa [Sholpa Dawa] and Duobujie [Topgyal], with the objective of overturning the socialist system and the peoples' democratic dictatorship, actively accepted a mission specially appointed by foreign enemies, actively gathering various kinds of intelligence about this country within our borders and engaging in criminal activities that endangered state security".
Topgyal was also found to have written three "reactionary letters" which he had passed on to Sholpa Dawa. The letters "together with the list of prisoners' names, were stamped with an ox-head stamp of their own manufacture, and were the to be sent abroad as a report to the Dalai Clique", the court statement said.
Topgyal was sentenced to six years imprisonment while Sholpa Dawa received a nine year sentence. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
Topgyal is due for release in 2002 at the age of 63. Express your concern over his arbitrary detention resulting from his political convictions by writing a letter to China's Premier, Mr Li Peng, requesting his immediate and unconditional release. Send your letter to TCHRD for forwarding.
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