Tibetan Political Prisoner Dies After 14 Months in Custody
2015-07-23
UPDATED at 6:35 a.m. EST on 2015-07-24
A Tibetan village chief being held in prison for his role in protests against a Chinese gold mine died in a Lhasa hospital, a Tibetan source living in exile told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Lobsang Yeshi, a father of eight in his 60s, died on July 19 at Lhasa Hospital, where he had been taken after his health deteriorated in Ngulchul prison in Lhasa, the source told RFA.
The cause of the man’s death was not immediately clear. But the website of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan exile government in India, said he had been tortured since his detention in May 2014 after a protest in his village.
“Due to severe beating in the prison, Lobsang Yeshi sustained grievous injuries and suffered dizziness as a result of poor health,” said the CTA report.
Lobsang Yeshi, who was the head of Gewar village in (In Chinese, Changdu) prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region, near where a Chinese mine was being built, and two other village men were sentenced to two years in jail for their roles in protests that rocked the village a year earlier.
On May 7, 2014, Gewar village resident Phakpa Gyaltsen died in a solitary protest after stabbing himself and jumping from a building in Tongbar town to oppose Chinese plans to mine gold in an area of Dzogang (Zuogang) near Madok Tso called Ache Jema, according to Tibetan sources at the time.
“At that time, the Tibetans, led by some elderly Tibetans including Lobsang Yeshi who was head of the village, protested at Dzogang county center. The protest continued even after threatening warnings given by Chamdo and Dzogang police,” the exiled Tibetan source told RFA.
“The leader and others continued with frequent protests and refused to budge under the threat. The tension was eased when the county level officials tried to mediate between the police and the protestors and allowed the Tibetans to go home without any action,” the source added.
Later, however, Lobsang Yeshi was one of seven Tibetans taken into custody by the authorities and detained in Dzogang county for almost one year, he said.
Tibetan areas of China have become an important source of minerals needed for China’s economic growth, and mining operations have led to frequent standoffs with Tibetans who accuse Chinese firms of disrupting sites of spiritual significance and polluting the environment as they extract local wealth.
“None of the relatives and friends of Lobsang Yeshi was allowed to see his body. Only a monk was finally allowed in to see his body and conduct prayer,” the exile source said.
Lobsang Yeshi’s body was cremated on July 21, with two of his brothers attending the cremation, the source said.
Reported by RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Paul Eckert.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this report incorrectly stated that Ngulchul prison is in Chamdo, instead of Lhasa

Congressman McGovern Statement on Death of Tibetan Activist Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
Jul 20, 2015
Press Release
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Jim McGovern (MA-02), a senior House Democrat and Co-Chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, released the following statement on the death of Tibetan activist Tenzin Delek Rinpoche:
“Last week I was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic death of the well-known Tibetan monk, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. Tenzin Delek was serving a life sentence under very harsh conditions for allegedly ‘causing explosions’ and ‘inciting separatism,’ charges against which he steadfastly maintained his innocence. Just last April, I had written to the U.S. State Department to encourage our government officials to prioritize Tenzin Delek’s release on medical parole, because he was reported to be suffering from serious health problems. In late June, the State Department assured me the message had been transmitted, but now we see that China turned a callous blind eye to my pleas and those of many others. The Chinese authorities bear direct responsibility for Tenzin Delek’s unnecessary death.
“But the barbarity of the story does not end there. Tenzin Delek’s family asked the Chinese government to return his body to them, so that they could carry out funeral rites in accordance with Tibetan tradition. This very basic, very human request was supported by Tibetan religious leaders and many others around the world. Instead, Chinese authorities cremated the body at a secret prison outside Chengdu, returning only ashes to his distraught family and community. The authorities’ only humane gesture, which was minimal and under pressure, was to permit several monks and family members, including two sisters, to view the body before the cremation. The monks were able to wash and dress the body, and carry out prayers, as was the family. But let me be clear: the authorities’ actions after Tenzin Delek’s death display the same utter contempt for their own laws, and for religious traditions, that characterized their treatment of this spiritual leader during his life.
“We do not know the cause of Tenzin Delek’s death. He died while family members were waiting to see him, in what would have been only his second family visit in 13 years. His sisters, after seeing the body, report that his lips and fingernails had turned black; they believe he was murdered. At a minimum, it was the height of cruelty to have allowed a prisoner who was tortured, suffering from medical problems, and had been denied medical treatment, to die in prison.
“I do not believe that we can expect the Chinese government to tell the world the truth about Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s death. For this reason, today I am calling for an immediate independent international investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death, with the participation of forensic and human rights experts from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. I also call on the Chinese government to allow a visit and investigation by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, in light of the allegations of torture against Tenzin Delek, and China’s upcoming review this fall under the Convention Against Torture.
“Frankly, these independent investigations would be in China’s best interests. Given their treatment of the man before his death, and of his body afterwards, authorities’ statements have little credibility.
“Tenzin Delek’s death is being felt very strongly in Tibetan communities – we’ve already seen reports of police firing into the air to disperse the crowds that gathered to demand the return of the body to his home in Sichuan. I am concerned for the safety of the members of Tenzin Delek’s family and I have received very disturbing reports that his sister, Dolkar Lhamo, and her daughter, Nyima Lhamo, have been detained by the police. Please be assured that my voice will be heard if they are harmed or their rights are violated in any way.
“My heart goes out to the family of Tenzin Delek, to his religious followers, and to the communities he served. He was an outstanding human being who defended his culture and his people, and paid dearly for it. He will not be forgotten.”

Chinese Cremate Body of Revered Tibetan Monk, Ignoring Pleas
By ANDREW JACOBSJULY 16, 2015
BEIJING — Authorities in southwest China on Thursday cremated the body of a prominent Tibetan monk who died in prison last week, ignoring the pleas of relatives, religious leaders and thousands of supporters who had demanded that they be allowed to carry out funeral rites integral to Tibetan Buddhism.
Relatives of the monk, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, 65, said prison officials in Sichuan Province had brushed aside their requests and hastily cremated his body early Thursday, a move likely to exacerbate protests that have already turned violent in recent days.
“I think they were afraid people would see the body and know that it was not a natural death,” a cousin, Geshe Jamyang Nyima, said in a Skype interview.
Rights advocates have been calling for an investigation into the death of Tenzin Delek, a revered community leader who had been serving a life sentence on charges of terrorism and incitement of separatism. During his 13 years in prison, Tenzin Delek repeatedly maintained his innocence, saying accusations that he had orchestrated a series of bomb blasts in 2002 were fabricated by officials unhappy with his growing public stature.
Alarmed by accounts of his failing health, family members in recent years had been petitioning Beijing to grant Tenzin Delek medical parole, a campaign that drew support from Tibetan exile groups, Western governments and thousands of his followers in China. This week, the State Department and the European Union called on the Chinese government to release his body.
Prison officials in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, could not be reached for comment on Thursday but relatives say they have repeatedly declined to give a cause of death.
Family members say Tenzin Delek was in good health before his arrest, but that he had developed a heart ailment they attribute to the abuse they say he suffered while in custody.
“From their earliest efforts at harassing him, all the way through to their disposal of his body, Chinese authorities’ treatment of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche has demonstrated utter contempt for their own laws and for religious traditions,” said Sophie Richardson, the China director of Human Rights Watch. “To have allowed someone who had been tortured and denied medical care to die in detention is the height of cruelty.”
Tenzin Delek was one of China’s most high-profile political prisoners, and his death and hasty cremation are likely to aggravate tensions in a region already bristling with anti-government sentiment.
On Monday, the police were said to have fired tear gas and live ammunition into a crowd of more than a thousand people who had gathered outside government offices in Nyagchuka, a largely Tibetan town in Sichuan where Tenzin Delek had once lived. More than a dozen people were wounded, according to Students for a Free Tibet, an overseas advocacy group that reported the confrontation.
In recent days, nearly 100 people, including two of Tenzin Delek’s, have been staging a sit-in outside the prison in Chengdu where he is thought to have been held. Many had traveled nearly 400 miles from his hometown in Lithang, in western Sichuan, despite warnings from authorities that those caught traveling to Chengdu would face long prison terms.
Geshe Jamyang Nyima, the cousin, said prison officials had allowed Tenzin Delek’s sisters to view his body Thursday morning shortly before it was cremated at a secret prison outside Chengdu. “They found that his lips and his fingernails had turned black,” said the cousin, who lives in exile in India and is in frequent phone contact with one of the sisters. “To us, it is clear he has been murdered.”
Tenzin Delek was a revered figure among Tibetans in Sichuan, where he helped build medical clinics, schools and monasteries. He was also known as an environmentalist who opposed mining and deforestation.
But his promotion of Tibetan language and culture — and his devoted following among local residents — made Chinese officials uncomfortable, according to Padma Dolma, campaigns director for Students for a Free Tibet. “He wasn’t involved in political activities, which is why it was such a shock when he was arrested and charged with conspiring to plant a bomb,” she said. “It’s because of his message of nonviolence that Tibetans were so dedicated to him.”
Following his arrest — and a secret trial — Tenzin Delek’s notoriety spread beyond Sichuan. After international rights advocates campaigned for his release, his death sentence was commuted to life in prison, though a co-defendant was executed in 2003.
Robert Barnett, director of the Modern Tibet Studies Program at Columbia University, said the Chinese government had been quietly granting medical parole to ill Tibetan prisoners, including 17 over the past two years. But given Tenzin Delek’s popularity, he said, the authorities may have feared public celebrations over his release.
“Like so much of China’s Tibet policies, they were trapped in a cul-de-sac with no exit,” he said. “Still, that he was allowed to die in prison is really quite extraordinary. It’s something that is going to be very strongly felt in Tibetan communities.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/world/asia/china-cremates-body-of-revered-tibetan-monk-tenzin-delek-rinpoche.html?_r=0

Popular Tibetan Monk Serving Life Sentence Dies in Chinese Jail
2015-07-13
A popular Tibetan monk serving a life term in prison in China’s Sichuan province has died after being known to be in extremely poor health with a serious heart condition for which he allegedly received no treatment, according to sources and rights groups.
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who had been imprisoned since 2002 after what rights groups and supporters described as a wrongful conviction on a bombing charge, died on Sunday, the sources said. He was 65 years old.
“Chinese police informed his relatives that he was seriously ill and when they rushed to visit him, they were told he was already dead,” one source inside Tibet told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Another source said Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s body has not been handed over to his family after his death at 4:00 p.m. local time
Two of his relatives had been in Chengdu, Sichuan’s capital, for more than a week hoping to visit the ailing monk in Mianyang jail but they were not allowed by the authorities to see him, the source said.
Death sentence
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who was highly respected by Tibetans, was charged with involvement in an April 3, 2002 bombing in the central square of Chengdu and initially sentenced to death in December that year along with an assistant, Lobsang Dondrub.
His death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, but Lobsang Dondrub was executed almost immediately, prompting an outcry from rights activists who questioned the fairness of the trial.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) concluded in a report two years after the trial that the legal proceedings against Tenzin Delek Rinpoche had been “procedurally flawed” and that he was charged only in order to “curb his efforts to foster Tibetan Buddhism … and his work to develop Tibetan social and cultural institutions.”
Authorities had begun to perceive Tenzin Delek Rinpoche as a threat as his “local status rose and he successfully challenged official policies on a number of issues,” HRW said in its report.
‘Devastated’
Students for a Free Tibet, a global Tibetan group, said Sunday it was “devastated” by his death. “A Tibetan hero has died in Chinese prison,” it said.
“Over 13 years of unjust imprisonment and torture in prison left him with critical medical conditions for which he received no treatment,” the group said.
It charged that he “has died under suspicious circumstances,” calling him “a revered Tibetan Buddhist teacher and outspoken advocate for his people.”
“Tibetans inside Tibet are already demanding local authorities to release his body to arrange Buddhist religious rites,” the group said.
Recognized by Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as a reincarnated lama in the 1980s, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche had been a community leader and a staunch advocate for the protection and preservation of Tibetan culture, religion, and way of life for decades, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) had said.
He had been held in detention for over 13 years “for a crime that he did not commit,” ICT said.
Petition
More than 40,000 Tibetans had signed their names to a petition asking for his release, each attesting to their signature by adding a thumbprint in red ink, the ICT said. “Every single one of the 40,000 Tibetan signers knows that they risk their freedom and perhaps their lives by speaking out for the Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.”
Tibetans had also been protesting for his release since he was detained in 2002 and many were themselves jailed for the action.
Reported by Lhuboom and Kalden Lodoe for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Kalden Lodoe. Written in English by Parameswaran Ponnudurai.