Cutting Off The Serpent's Head:

Tightening Control in Tibet 1994-95

*** DEFINITIVE NEW STUDY ON TIBET - COPIES NOW AVAILABLE! ***

In July 1994 China's top leaders met in Beijing to discuss new methods to destroy the "serpent" of the Tibetan independence movement. The meeting established a series of new controls and restraints to "cut off the serpent's head" which are now being implemented in Tibet and which include some of the most aggressive policies for over a decade. Their impact can be assessed from the 50% increase in political arrests last year, which brought the total of Tibetan dissidents now in custody to over 600, the highest in six years.

It is these policies and the Tibetan response to them that are described in the new 200 page study, "Cutting Off the Serpent's Head: Tightening Control in Tibet 1994-95".

Published jointly by the Tibet Information Network (TIN), a research organisation based in London, and Human Rights Watch/Asia, the New York-based human rights monitoring group, this report is the first major study of Tibetan policies since 1990. A team of six western and Tibetan researchers worked on the study for over a year, carrying out more than 200 interviews with refugees, analysing Chinese newspaper reports, and collecting internal documents and reports sent from Tibet.

The book consists of two parts, the first an analysis of political developments over the last two years, and the second a description of particular forms of control: political imprisonment, torture, and restrictions on religious freedom.

It also includes the first study of compulsory labour in Tibet, a practice by which some Tibetans are obliged to spend up to three years working unpaid on government mines, roads and irrigation projects. The report contains the case histories of Tibetans known to have been arrested for political reasons during 1995, translations of important internal Party documents calling for the new crackdown on dissent, graphs, statistics and a map.

Copies of "Cutting Off the Serpent's Head" are now available and can be obtained immediately from TIN or from Human Rights Watch/Asia.

TIN charges are:

1 copy - 9.50 ($15) each

10 copies or over - @ 7.50 ($11.50) each

25 copies or over - @ 6.00 ($9.50) each

50 copies or over - @ 5.00 ($7.50) each

add 15% postage outside the UK or US

add 10% postage within the UK or US

Cheques should be made payable to Tibet Information Network. Bank transfers can be sent in sterling to Account No. 02871726 or in US dollars to Account No. 01-06029647 at Nat West Bank, Branch No 50-30-03, London NW3 - UK.

TIN UK - ph: (44)-181 533 5458 fax: (44)-181 985 4751

email:tin@gn.apc.org

7 Beck Road London E8 4RE United Kingdom

TIN USA - ph/fax: (1)-307 733 4670

email:tinusa@igc.apc.org

PO Box 2270, Jackson WY 83001, USA

Or contact:

Human Rights Watch/Asia - ph (1)-(0)212 972 8400 fax: (212) 972-0905

email: hrwnyc@hrw.org

Cutting Off the Serpent's Head:

Tightening Control in Tibet 1994-95

ISBN 1-56432-166-5: Library of Congress Catalog Card No 96-76-96