Published by World Tibet Network News - Saturday, 2 December 1995

URGENT APPEAL CASE - 1st December, 1995

Tibetan Prisoner of Conscience faces threat of Death Penalty

We received urgent news today, from a reliable source in Tibet, that Sholpa Dawa, a political prisoner in Sangyip prison, Tibet, whom we reported was arrested in August 1995, (October 24, 1995 Human Rights Update, prisoner No.1) faces threat of execution.

Background Information

55-year old Sholpa Dawa from Lhasa, worked as a construction labourer for sometime after 1959 and afterwards worked as a private tailor.

On September 29, 1981 he was arrested and sentenced to two years imprisonment for allegedly distributing pamphlets on the independence of Tibet. He was deprived of his political rights for one year. He spent six months in Gutsa prison and one and half years in Sangyip prison.

On November 8, 1985, he was arrested for the second time for distributing pamphlets "denouncing the deteriorating living conditions of 6 million Tibetans and the anti-secular foreign (Chinese) invasion of Tibet" . He was indicted along with eight other young Tibetans. This time he was sentenced to four years in Sangyip prison and was deprived of his political rights for the duration of one year.

Sholpa Dawa was arrested for the third time in Lhasa sometime in the early part of August 1995. He is now facing fear of execution by the Chinese authorities.

The Human Rights Desk requests your urgent intervention in this case. Please distribute this information and appeal for Sholpa Dawa's life.

Human Rights Desk, Department of Information & International Relations