World Tibet Network News Monday, April 01, 1998

Geneva, 1 April - As the UN Commission begins its debate on the question of the human rights of all persons subjected to any form of detention or imprisonment, Mr. Nigel Rodley, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, has once again raised specific cases in Tibet in his annual report to the Commission.

Excerpts on China and Tibet from this Report are being produced below:

70. The Special Rapporteur also transmitted the following cases from Tibet.

71. Tashi Dawa, a 17-year-old student at Dhanak Lomthen High School in Dranang, and a classmate, Nima, were reportedly reprimanded by police in December 1992, for stating that Tibet was not a province of China and demanding more Tibetan teachers. Following their expulsion from school, together with 31 other students who had joined their protest, police officers reportedly took the students to a storeroom. There, they allegedly branded Dawa, Nima and a third student on the bridge of the nose with a hot iron rod. Dawa and Nima were then reportedly taken to Lokha prison and held for three months, during which they were said to have been beaten regularly. Nima allegedly sustained a broken leg and Dawa was said to have been beaten with rifle butts on the head.

72. Lama Kyap, teacher at a school in Siling which emphasizes Tibetan language and culture, was reportedly arrested one month after the school had been opened with official permission in June 1993. He was allegedly detained for 32 days at Qinghai Hu Zhu district prison. During his detention, he was said to have been repeatedly interrogated as to whether the school had received funding and instructions from the Tibetan "Government in exile" in India. He was allegedly severely beaten, kicked, pressed for one half-hour with electric cattle prods,

and struck repeatedly with rods on his head. His airtight room was reportedly sprayed with insecticide, forcing him to inhale the chemical for two days and causing sores in his throat. Following his release he was reportedly hospitalized for 2 1/2 months.

73. Tsering Youdon, a 16-year-old girl, was reportedly arrested at her home in Lhuntse on 29 February 1994, following the arrest of the headmaster of her school. While interrogated at the police station as to whether the headmaster had taught her to demand independence for Tibet, a hot iron was allegedly placed firmly on her leg and left there for five minutes. She was reportedly also thrown against a desk, resulting in injuries to the head, and kicked in the stomach.

74. Thubten Tsering, a teacher who protested in March 1994 to the authorities in Meldrogongkar that students were not receiving sufficient instruction in the Tibetan language and led a demonstration for this purpose, was reportedly arrested together with 60 other demonstrators. He was reportedly detained for six months, with his hands and feet shackled, at the prison in Meldrogongkar. He was said to have been beaten every other day. For a substantial portion of his detention he was reportedly held in a concrete box the size of a coffin. He was reportedly released without having been taken to court and was forbidden from resuming his teaching duties.

75. Tenzin Yangzom, a nun, was reportedly arrested on 10 June 1994 after she had affixed a poster declaring Tibetan independence and a Tibetan flag to the main government building in Lhoka district. At the Tsethang Detention Centre, a police officer allegedly pushed her onto large, jagged stones. For five months she was reportedly kept in a cell smeared with faeces and urine. During the weekly interrogation she was allegedly beaten and shocked repeatedly with cattle prods to her stomach, breasts, back, face and arms. She was also allegedly punched and kicked and trampled upon with boots. After the five months, she was reportedly convicted at Tsethang People's High Court of being a "counter-revolutionary" and was sentenced to a three-year prison term. She was reportedly released for medical reasons, but forbidden to resume her life as a nun.

87. On 7 October 1997 the Special Rapporteur transmitted an urgent appeal on behalf of Jampel Tendar, a Buddhist monk from Gongkar Choede monastery, near Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region. He was allegedly arrested in June 1997 after having declared his support for the Dalai Lama and detained at a detention centre in Tsethang and the Gutsa detention centre. He was said to have been beaten during arrest and in detention.

Forwarded by

Tibet Bureau for UN Affairs,

Geneva, SWITZERLAND