The New York Times

September 11, 1997

Jailed Tibetan Is Reportedly on a Hunger Strike

BEIJING, Sept. 10 (AP) -A Senior Tibetan Buddhist monk who is being held in isolation in a remote Chinese prison reportedly began a hunger strike in July, a human rights group said today.

The monk, Chadrel Rinpoche, 58, is not allowed to leave his cell, in the high-security section of Chuandong N 3 prison, in Sichuan Province, said the group, Human Rights in China. It said that inmates there are watched round the clock and that their activities are restricted.

"In protest of denial of even his roost basic rights under labor camp regulations, he reportedly commenced a hunger strike some time in July," the human rights group said. It did not say how it had obtained the information.

Mr. Chandret Rinpoche is the highest-ranking Tibetan cleric to be arrested and sentenced in 17 years, according to the Tibet Information Network, which is based in London.

The monk, former abbot of the Tashilhunpo monastery, was arrested in May 1995, convicted on April 21 this year and sentenced to six years for passing information to the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan leader.

Mr. Chadrel Rinpoche had led the search for the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's second-ranking spiritual leader, a search that was approved by Beijing.

He was accused of telling the Dalai Lama of his search team's choice after the Dalai Lama announced the name of his choice for the new Panchen Lama from his exile in India.

China had hoped to use the search to divide Tibetans, and the Dalai Lama's annoucement effectively robbed Chinese leaders of the chance to name the new Panchen Lama.

After Mr. Chadrel Rinpoche was arrested, the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy was forced to repudiate the Dalai Lama's candidate and choose another 6-year-old boy. The Dalai Lama's choice has not been seen in public since, and Beijing has attempted to purge his supporters from monasteries.

China is in the midst of a three-year campaign to suppress Tibetan pro-independence activity and discredit the Dalai Lama.

Chinese troops entered Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled into exile nine years later as art uprising against Chinese rule collapsed.

The abbot's conviction was intended as a warning to Tibetan religious figures, many of whom remain loyal to the Dalai Lama. The sentence was considered relatively short, apparently an attempt to keep from inciting Tibetans.

One aide arrested with the monk was sentenced to four years in prison and. another to two years.