World Tibet Network News Wednesday, Jul 01, 1998

July 1, 1998 NEW DELHI, India (AP) Exiled Tibetans say a monk, four nuns and another inmate were killed by Chinese guards during independence demonstrations in their homeland's most notorious prison. The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, an arm of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, said it received several reports of the deaths in May at Drapchi prison from Tibetans who came to Dharmsala and from sources in Chinese-controlled Tibet. The reports on the prison, which lies on the outskirts of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, could not be independently confirmed.

Elizabeth Cossor, a spokeswoman for the center, said today that it was not clear how many of the dead were political prisoners. Buddhist monks and nuns remain loyal to the Dalai Lama, their political and spiritual leader, and are often imprisoned for their activities in Tibet's independence movement. Chinese soldiers seized Tibet in 1950. After an abortive uprising in 1959, the Dalai Lama led more than 100,000 Tibetans into exile. Cossor said the prison demonstrations were inspired in part by word reaching Tibet of a hunger strike by Tibetan exiles in India. The strike, which began in March, was the biggest protest by Tibetan independence fighters in India. Among the dead was Karma Dawa, who threw pamphlets reading "Free Tibet"into a ar, but added that other prisoners had feared he would be executed for leading the demonstration. Guards fired on the May 1 demonstration, killing an imprisoned monk, and a nun tortured during questioning about the demonstration also died, the center said. Four other nuns were k

illed when guards fired on another demonstration three days later, the center said.