To: Multiple recipients of list TSG-L
TIBETAN CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY
HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE
January 15, 1997
"STRIKE HARD" EXPULSIONS OF MONKS
Ngawang Jampa, aged 24 from Lhatse, Palbar Dzong, arrived in Dharamsala on 30 December 1996. He is one of the victims of the on going "strike hard" campaign presently being implemented by the authorities of the PRC.
He was expelled from Lhatse Monastery and was then again expelled, along with 500 other monks, from Chamdo Monastery. The total number of known expulsions for 1996 in connection with "strike hard" now stands at 1295.
Ngawang and other Tibetan monks are being denied the right to freedom of education and to practise and profess their religious belief. Ngawang Jampa was interviewed by TCHRD and recounted his expulsion and subsequent journey to freedom.
Ngawang Jampa joined Lhatse Monastery in 1985. He reports that there were a total of 75 monks in the monastery at that time.
The first expulsion drive took place in Lhatse Monastery in May 1996 and 52 of the 75 monks have thus far been expelled. Ngawang Jampa was expelled in late May for his non-compliance with work team officials and his refusal to give his thumb print as a mark of agreement.
In 1992 Ngawang Jampa joined Chamdo Monastery and remained there until his second expulsion in late 1996. During his stay in Chamdo he made annual visits to Lhatse Monastery.
In 1996 when Ngawang Jampa visited Lhatse Monastery he was told by officials from the Religious Bureau and the Public Security Bureau that if he returned to Chamdo he would face expulsion. Ngawang replied that his studies were in Chamdo and therefore he would have to go back. As a result Ngawang Jampa s name was withheld from the monastery s master roll.
The Chinese campaign to educate the monks to be country loving and religion loving was launched in Chamdo Monastery in August 1996 with the arrival of a "work team" of 24 members.
Later the monks were asked to go to the monastery of their respective district (Chinese: Sheng; Tibetan: Dzong) to continue their education campaign. Following the completion of the education campaign they were to receive permission from the district office before they could return to Chamdo Monastery. However it had reportedly already been decided by the authorities that such permission would not be granted.
Ngawang Jampa had already been expelled from Lhatse Monastery, the monastery of his origin, and thus he had nowhere to go. He reports that, as a result of this campaign, 500 of the 1500 Chamdo monks were expelled and that novice monks below the age of 18 were certain to also face expulsion. While the expulsion of such novice monks has thus far not been implemented in Chamdo Monastery, this policy has already been carried out in Palbar Dzong.
Ngawang Jampa reports that initially the work team had planned to carry out the campaign at Chamdo for 40 days and to extend if the results were not satisfactory.
There were 13 classes, each class with 60 to 180 monks, and the work team conducted one session at 2 pm and the next at 6 pm. Each class was conducted by two members of the work team and one person from the 30-member Monastery Management Committee.
During the 2 pm lesson the main focus was the five principles of the political pledge required from the monks: opposition to separatism; unity of Tibet and China; recognition of the Chinese-appointed Panchen Lama; denial of Tibet s independence and denouncement of the Dalai Lama. The evening session focused on Chinese Communist ideology.
Ngawang Jampa also provided testimony that:
* In February 1995 the Chinese authorities ordered the removal of all photos of the Dalai Lama from Chamdo Monastery. Each monk of Chamdo Monastery was ordered to submit one picture of His Holiness. When the monks refused, Chinese officials confiscated photos of the Dalai Lama from the monks quarters.
* In 1995, three monks of Chamdo Monastery were arested for engaging in pro-independence activities. One of the monks named Soepa, originally from Tsa Zo-gar Dzong, was Ngawang s classmate. The three monks are reportedly in Chamdo Prison.
Ngawang Jampa fled India with three other Chamdo monks who are now in Drepung, Sera and Ganden monastery in south India. Ngawang Jampa wishes to pursue his religious studies in Drepung Monastery in south India.
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POLITICAL PRISONERS IN LABOUR CAMP
A TCHRD source has reported that there are about nine political prisoners in Powo Tramo s labour camp. All are serving long sentences and are subject to deplorable prison conditions.
Powo Tramo, situated near Kongpo-Nyingtri (Chinese: Linzhi) about 500 km east of Lhasa, holds prisoners serving long term sentences.
Despite a very poor diet the prisoners are put to hard labour.
Their prison cells are often flooded with water as the area is prone to floods. The roads connecting the prison to the villages are cut off most of the year due to the floods and as a result friends and relatives of the prisoners are able to visit only once or twice a year.
Of the known political prisoners in Powo Tramo s Labour Camp, there are eight monks and one former Lhasa University student.
Five monks from Serwa Monastery - Jampa Tashi, Lobsang Palden, Jigme Dorje, Lobsang Tsegye and Pema Tsering - were arrested on 29 March 1994 after allegedly breaking the name-plate on a government building and pasting up independence slogans in Pakshoe Ritri, about 226 km south of Chamdo.
The monks were accused of counter-revolutionary sabotage and sentenced on 6 July 1994 at a public trial by a court of Pakshoe county, Chamdo Prefecture. Jampa Tashi, aged 28, and Lobsang Palden were sentenced to 12 years each, while Jigme Dorje, Lobsang Tsegye and Pema Tsering were all sentenced to 15 years.
Tenpa Wangdak and Lobsang Palden (also known as Gyadar), both from Ganden Monastery, were first imprisoned on 5 March 1988, They were transferred from Drapchi Prison to Powo Tramo on 28 April 1994.
Gyaltsen from Chamdo Monastery is also serving his term in Powo Tramo.
Life sentence reduced to 18 years
Lobsang Tenzin, a 27 year-old former student of Tibet University, is also in Powo Tramo. He was arrested on 19 March 1988 having been implicated as the principal culprit in the death of a People s Armed Police officer during the independence demonstrations in Lhasa on 5 March 1988.
Lobsang was first given a death sentence but due to strong international pressure this was commuted to a life sentence in March 1991.
Lobsang Tenzin was one of the political prisoners who attempted to pass a petition to James Lilley, the U.S. Ambassador to China at the time.
According to a former political prisoner, Lobsang Tenzin's life sentence was reduced to 18 years in 1994 due to his "good behaviour" in prison.
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A MOTHER'S PLEA TO SEE HER SON
Sonam Dekyi is 59 years old, is suffering from tuberculosis and poor health, and has just one wish before she dies: to see her son, Ngawang Choephel, who has recently been sentenced to 18 years imprisonment by Chinese authorities.
Sonam Dekyi fled Tibet in 1968. Heavily pregnant at the time, she made the treacherous journey across the Himalayan mountains with two year-old Ngawang on her back. On the way Sonam gave birth to her second child but the baby did not survive the journey.
Sonam had to leave Tibet without her husband. He planned to follow his wife and son later but when he attempted to flee he was caught by Chinese authorities. He was subsequently detained and tortured. Since that time Sonam has heard nothing of her husband. As she struggled to bring up her son in a foreign country she had no idea whether her husband was alive or dead.
When Ngawang left home in June 1995 he did not tell his mother he was visiting Tibet for fear of worrying her. He said instead that he was visiting Ladakh, India and would be home in October. When Ngawang did not come Sonam Dekyi searched for him in Tibetan settlements in India and in Nepal, without success.
On 10 January 1997, Sonam Dekyi made an impassioned appeal to the international community at a press conference in Delhi to urge China to allow her to visit her son in prison:
With profound grief and sadness, I the aged mother of an imprisoned son, have come here from the Tibetan refugee camp of Mundgod, South India to address the media. I hope that through you, the governments of the world and the international community will be informed of the woeful story of an old Tibetan mother. I appeal to all of you to save my only son Ngawang Choephel who is presently imprisoned in Tibet.
... Being a single parent to my child, I have devoted my whole life in caring for and educating Ngawang Choephel. I love him very much and he is my only hope and I am wholly dependent on him...
I am certain that the Chinese government s charges against my son are totally baseless. They have accused my son of spying for the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. But the Tibetan government did not send him to Tibet. Being his mother, I am the only person in this world who knows my son very closely. Ngawang is interested only in traditional Tibetan music and has spent most of his 30 years in the pursuit of Tibetan music and dance...
I am aging and ny health is worsening day by day. I long to see my only son before I die. I wrote a letter to the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi on December 5, 1996, requesting permission to see my son. There has been no response. I again visited the Chinese Embassy yesterday and met the First Secretary, Mr Huo Zhongquan. He said it will take at least three to four months to seek permission from the authorities in Tibetan Autonomous Region . I cannot wait that long. I am old and ill... I am worried and do not know what to do. Please help me save my only son...
On 12 January Sonam Dekyi led a peaceful silent procession in Delhi to draw public attention to her appeal. Two days earlier, in Dharamsala in northern India, 1500 people joined a candlelight vigil and offered prayers in support of Ngawang Choephel.
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PROFILE: MUSICIAN SENTENCED TO 18 YEARS
After 15 months of detention without charge, Ngawang Choephel, a 30 year old Tibetan musician and scholar, has been sentenced to 18 years and four years deprivation of political rights after visiting Tibet to research traditional musical customs.
Sonam Dickey carried her two year-old son Ngawang on her back over the Himalayas and out of Tibet at the onset of the Cultural Revolution. Ngawang's father was to follow but when he later tried to escape he was arrested and tortured by Chinese authorities. It is not known today whether he is alive or dead.
Ngawang learnt the art of music in his childhood in the Mundgod Tibetan Settlement, Camp no. 2 in southern India. After finishing high school he studied traditional Tibetan folk music, song and dance at the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts in Dharamsala in northern India where he was recognised as an outstanding student.
Ngawang completed his diploma in 1988 and after graduation taught music at Tibetan schools in Mundgod and Bylakuppe settlements.
In August 1993 Ngawang Choephel went to the USA on a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study and teach ethnomusicology at Middlebury College in Vermont. One of his primary goals was to learn Western musical notation so that he could preserve Tibet's musical heritage in a form accessible to a general audience. Another aim was to make a video of traditional Tibetan music to be used as an educational tool.
Ngawang returned to India in October 1994 and in July 1995 he left for Tibet. During the early part of his trip Ngawang travelled with Kathryn Culley, an American photographer, who assisted him in his documentation.
Before she left Tibet on 22 August, Kathryn was told by Ngawang that he planned to visit Shigatse to look for musicians before returning to India in November or December. Ngawang was also planning to travel to the west of Tibet in the hope of finding his father.
Ngawang was first reported missing in August 1995. It was not until 15 October 1996, more than a year after his arrest, that the Chinese authorities finally admitted to his detention.
Mr Shao Wenguang, the Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C., said that Ngawang had been detained on charges of spying for the exile government of the Dalai Lama and was suspected of violating article 4, section 2(5), of the Chinese State Security Law. He claimed that the "judicial department of the Tibetan Autonomous Region is handling his case according to law".
As a precaution, Ngawang periodically sent completed footage to Kathmandu. Of the 16 hours of filmed traditional song and dance, there was not a single scene indicating that Ngawang was involved in any political activity. The footage confirmed what Ngawang had said in correspondance and a sponsor submission - that his intention in visiting his homeland was the peaceful documentation of the Tibetan people's cultural heritage.
On 16 September 1995, Tibetan businessman Dorji Rinchen, imprisoned in Nyari Detention Centre in Shigatse, saw Ngawang Choephel being brought in. Ngawang told Dorji about his musical research and that he had been detained from the marketplace in Shigatse. He asked Dorji to tell his mother not to worry about him. One evening Ngawang, still strong in spirit, sang for the other prisoners in Nyari.
In September 1996 Ngawang was reportedly transferred to Lhasa and on 16 October 1996 to Sangyip Prison.
On 26 December 1996, the Tibet People's Broadcasting Station in Lhasa, monitored by the BBC, announced, "In accordance with the Criminal Law of the PRC, the State Security Law of the PRC, and the Implementing Regulations of the State Security Law of the PRC, the Intermediate People's Court of Xigaze (Tibetan: Shigatse) Prefecture sentenced Ngawang Choephel to an 18-year prison term for committing espionage crime, with a four-year deprivation of political rights".
It was alleged in the official Chinese media that, "In July 1995, he was sent to Shigatse with money and spy equipment by the Dalai clique, and in the name of collecting Tibetan folk dances andsongs, he went to Lhasa, Shannan, Linzhi and other places to collect information" for the Dalai Lama and an organisation of "a certain foreign country" (previously confirmed as the USA).
According to the broadcast, Ngawang Choephel "confessed" to espionage activities. Yet there have been numerous reports of torture being routinely employed by Chinese officials during interrogations as a means of obtaining confessions.
Ngawang Choephel's mother, Sonam Dekyi, a single parent to her only son, is in a state of severe shock after hearing news of her son's sentence. A few months earlier, she had to be hospitalised for over a month due to mental distress caused by her son's detention and today she continues to survive on medications in a fragile state of health.
We appeal to all friends of Tibet and people of the free world to take up the case of Ngawang Choephel and urge the PRC for his speedy release. His detention and sentence is a source of great concern for all Tibetans in exile who travel to Tibet each year to meet relatives or on pilgrimage.
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DISCRIMINATION OF HEALTH CARE IN TIBET
According to a TCHRD source in Tibet, during late 1995 and early 1996 the Health Department of "TAR" conducted an inspection of all the private hospitals and clinics in and around Lhasa.
The inspection team confiscated the practising licence of Lodoe Choedak, former Director of Lhasa's Zhigong (Chinese) Hospital. After his retirement, 50 year-old Lodoe Choedak had opened a private clinic. Along with Lodoe, the practising licences of nine of his colleagues, all Tibetans, were confiscated. The inspection team claimed that Lodoe's clinic did not fulfill certain criteria and thus forced the closure of the clinic.
Some of Lodoe's colleagues who had good connections with the Chinese officials and some Chinese doctors, despite being recent graduates and lacking experience, were allowed to retain their licences.
Lodoe's Tibetan patients appealed to the Health Department to re-issue practising licences to the doctors. The Health Department responded by confiscating more licences from other new doctors. According to our source, there were 150 private hospitals and clinics in and around Lhasa before the inspection. Of these, only 119 hospitals and clinics which had good relations with the Chinese officials were allowed to retain their licences.
The story was confirmed by a recent new arrival from Tibet who disclosed that the closure of these private hospitals was a deliberate policy initiated by the Health Department in order to curb the success of the hospitals.
Few patients visit the public hospitals where they receive poor service and negligent treatment, preferring the private hospitals where they receive proper medical treatment and attention.
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DISCRIMINATION IN LANGUAGE
A recent update by the Tibet Information Network reports further actions taken by the authorities of the PRC to discriminate against the use of Tibetan language in educational institutions within Tibet.
In December 1996, authorities announced that the History of Tibet course at the University of Tibet is to be taught in Chinese rather than Tibetan.
The decision ignores the fact that many of the teachers and students are Tibetan and that the course is taught by the University's Tibetan Language Department. It also ignores one of the reasons listed for the founding of the University - the maintenance and development of Tibetan culture and language.
A long-standing requirement that all students pass an entrance examination in Tibetan is also said to have been dropped this year and all except one of the 17 university courses are now believed to be taught mainly in Chinese.
Eighty percent of students at the University of Tibet are Tibetan
and rural students who are not fluent in Chinese are particularly
at risk of discrimination as a result of these decisions.
Local authorities have also closed an experimental project
initiated by the late Panchen Lama in three secondary schools in
the "TAR" whereby Tibetan children were being taught in Tibetan.
All other Tibetan children in secondary schools study in Chinese
with the exception of some 40 special schools in Amdo province
(Chinese: Qinghai).
In 1995 the first graduates of the pilot project achieved far
better results (79.8% pass rate) than other Tibetan secondary
school students (39%) who were required to study in Chinese.
Tibetan students studying in Chinese have, moreover, scored well
below the national average.
The official reason given for the closure of the project was due to a lack of funds and qualified teachers, yet some 500 tecahers have been trained to teach in Tibetan since 1993. Chinese authorities are now setting up a new project to have all primary school education in both Tibetan and Chinese medium while almost all Tibetan primary schools currently teach in Tibetan.
Other actions reported include the downgrading of the committee
responsible for policies implementing the use of Tibetan language
from regional to county level and the subsequent retirement of many of its Tibetan members. The Head of the University of Tibet reportedly does not speak Tibetan and the head of the Education Commission and Vice-President of the University is also Chinese.
While Tibetan was declared the official language of the "TAR" in July 1988, it is now felt by Tibetans that fluent Chinese is imperative for employment opportunities.
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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) was
registered under the Indian Societies Registration Act 21 of 1860.
TCHRD aims to promote and protect human rights and a democratic
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