World Tibet Network News Thursday, Jul 02, 1998

NEW DELHI, June 30 (AFP) - At least seven Tibetans were killed and 60 badly wounded early May after Chinese authorities fired on prisoners staging a pro-independence protest at a Lhasa jail, the Tibetan government-in-exile said Tuesday. A communique issued from the government's headquarters in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala cited unconfirmed reports as saying 15 other prisoners were in critical condition after the alleged incidents during demonstrations May 1 and May 4. It said authorities at Lhasa's Drapchi prison fired on prisoners leading a peaceful protest against Chinese rule, after Karma Dawa, a non-political prisoner serving a sentence of 13 years, threw pamphlets reading "Free Tibet" during a Chinese flag-raising ceremony on international labour day. Reports said the dead included Karma, a monk and five nuns. Witnesses said the nuns were tortured and their bodies were swollen.

Lobsang Tsering, a Tibetan spokesman told AFP: "the nuns were beaten badly with sticks. Afterwards they could not walk and were bedridden." He said: "Drapchi prison is where most political prisoners are kept" adding that most of them were nuns and monks. Tsering said sources of the report were new Tibetan arrivals in Dharamsala from Tibet, as well as sources inside Tibet and in Nepal. The statement, which coincides with US President Bill Clinton's visit to China, said: "Following the two demonstrations, all regular activities in Drapchi prison were stalled and severe restrictions imposed on outsiders attempting to enter or to meet prisoners." It said all the 520 political prisoners -- about half of them women - were interrogated and threatened with capital punishment if "they spoke of these incidents to outsiders."

China, which claims its sovereignty over Tibet dates back to the 13th century, "liberated" the region in 1951. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. He heads a government-in-exile in Dharamshala, recognised by some 100,000 emigres living in India. Beijing has so far refused to meet with him, charging he is working for the independence of Tibet, a position the Dalai Lama has denied. He recently said he was ready for unconditional talks with China. Confrontation between the Dalai Lama and the Beijing government reached a peak in 1995 when the spiritual leader unilaterally named the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism. In response, Beijing ordered all pictures of the Dalai Lama to be removed from monasteries and temples and launched a bitter campaign to discredit him.

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