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2008-10-03T14:21:00.000-07:00

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2008-10-03T14:14:00.000-07:00

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2008-10-03T13:57:00.001-07:00

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2008-08-28T10:16:00.001-07:00

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2008-08-28T10:13:00.001-07:00

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2008-08-28T10:01:00.001-07:00

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2008-08-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

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2008-08-28T09:52:00.000-07:00

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2008-08-28T09:47:00.001-07:00

4 Tibet activists detained after unfurling banner

2008-08-06T05:28:00.000-07:00

BEIJING (AP) -- Police led away four activists from the U.S. and U.K. on Wednesday after they unfurled pro-Tibet banners outside Beijing's National Stadium, the site of the Olympic Games' opening ceremony later this week.

Two men from Students for a Free Tibet each climbed an electrical pole in front of the so-called Bird's Nest and put up the banners at dawn, said Lhadon Tethong, the New York-based group's executive director. The other two - a man and a woman - provided support from the base of the poles, she said.

One of the black-and-white banners said "Tibet will be free" and "Tibet Freedom" in Chinese. The other said "One World, One Dream" - the slogan for the Beijing Olympics - followed by "Free Tibet." One of the men also flew the flag of the Dalai Lama's former Tibetan government.

It was the first such demonstration at a venue for the games, which open Friday.

"We've done this action today to highlight the Chinese government's use of the Beijing Olympics as a propaganda tool to whitewash their human rights record on Tibet," protester Iain Thom said from his perch about 50 feet off the ground, according to a recorded cell phone conversation posted on the group's Web site.

The activist group identified the protesters as Thom, 24, of Scotland; Phill Bartell, 34, of Bridgewater, N.J.; Tirian Mink, 32, of Portland, Ore.; and Lucy Marion, 23, of England.

Beijing organizers, who have taken great pains to put in place strict security measures to show that Beijing is capable of hosting the event, condemned the protest.

"We express our strong opposition," said Sun Weide, spokesman for the Beijing Olympics organizing committee. "In terms of assembly and demonstrations, China has related laws and regulations. We hope that foreigners will respect the related Chinese laws and regulations."

Sun said the demonstrators were "persuaded to leave" by police, who received tips from local residents about the protest. The four were not arrested or taken to a police station, he said.

Tethong said the demonstrators were peacefully led away by police and members of the internal security force after about an hour. No contact had been made with them because their phones were off, she said.

"It's absolutely critical that ... a message is sent to the Chinese government to meaningfully address and end violence and repression in Tibet or they will never be truly accepted by the international community," Tethong said.

International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Emmanuelle Moreau said organizers should expect people to "use the platform of the Olympic Games to draw attention to their causes."

"The IOC are confident Beijing city authorities will assess the situation reasonably and act with tact and understanding," she said.

Tibet has been an extremely sensitive topic since protests against almost 50 years of Chinese rule turned violent in the region's capital of Lhasa in March. Many Tibetans insist they were an independent nation before communist troops invaded in 1950, while Beijing says the Himalayan region has been part of its territory for centuries.

Similar demonstrations were sparked in Tibetan communities throughout Western China and a massive crackdown by Chinese security forces ensued. Pro-Tibet groups say scores of monks and nuns have been arrested, imprisoned and beaten since March.

It could not be immediately confirmed if members of the group had breached the stadium's security perimeter. Canadian Television said the protest was outside a fence separating the public from the Olympics area.

While Beijing has announced that it would allow applications for public protests in three designated areas, it isn't immediately clear if any had been accepted.

China's human rights record and its policies in Tibet and Sudan have been a flash point in the run-up to the Aug. 8 Olympics as activists use the games to highlight their causes.

Former Olympic speedskater Joey Cheek had his visa revoked by Chinese authorities Wednesday, hours before he was set to travel to Beijing to urge the Chinese government to help make peace in the war-torn Darfur section of Sudan.

Cheek, the president and co-founder of a collection of Olympic athletes known as Team Darfur, had been planning to spend about two weeks in China.

One of his key initiatives was urging the international community to persuade Sudan to observe the ancient tradition of the Olympic truce during the Beijing Games.

More than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced in fighting in the western Sudanese region since ethnic African tribesmen took up arms in 2003.

Himalayan Committee to go on hunger strike for Tibet

2008-08-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, August 4 - Some 250 members from the Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet (HIMCAT) across the belt of Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh expressed their solidarity and support for Tibet by participating in a peace march from Rajghat to Jantar Mantar today. Various Tibet support groups in the Himalayan region have condemned the unfortunate development in the Buddhist nation with China's violent behavior towards monks, nuns and the common man. They termed these acts as 'cultural genocide' against the minority Tibetan race.

The supporters joined the peaceful demonstrators at Jantar Mantar and were welcomed by the Tibetan Solidarity Committee. A memorandum was submitted to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh to urge their northern neighbor to engage in peaceful resolution on the Tibet issue and stop violating fundamental rights.

Ven. Sona Rinpoche from Arunachal Pradesh and Bhante Vishwa Bandhu addressed those gathered pledging undying assistance in the face of present predicament in Tibet. The HIMCAT also announced the commencement of a week long hunger strike beginning today as a sign of backing and resistance against China's brutal occupation and oppression of the Tibetan people.

The support hunger strikers will join a fifty odd group of sit in demonstrators from Phendeling, the Mainpat Tibetan Settlement who have been protesting everyday at Jantar Mantar close to two weeks now. Executive members from the Regional Tibetan Women's Association and others from the local Tibetan settlement in Delhi have been rallying at the venue since March. Butter lamps are lit everyday for the souls of the departed and those who continue to suffer in Chinese prisons.

phayul.com

Tibetans intensify Nepal protests before Olympics

2008-08-05T15:39:00.000-07:00

KATHMANDU, - Nepali police detained at least 80 Tibetans in Kathmandu on Monday as the exiles stepped up anti-China protests four days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

Police said the exiles were rounded up when they tried to march to a Chinese consular office and were being held at a police training centre.

"All of them will be released later," said one police officer, who asked not to be identified.

The Himalayan republic is home to more than 20,000 Tibetans, many of whom fled their homeland after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
On Sunday, Nepali police detained 253 protesters, including Tibetan monks and nuns, who tried to stage a silent march in front of a Chinese visa office.

Nepal says Tibet is part of China, an important trade partner and aid donor, and does not allow anti-China activities. Yet the exiles have managed to organise regular protests against Beijing. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Paul Tait)

.phayul.com
They have been regularly protesting since the Chinese crackdown on demonstrations in Tibet in March.

Police Take Hunger Strikers to Hospital for Medical Care

2008-08-05T15:38:00.000-07:00

New York, August 5 – As the six hunger strikers entered their ninth day without food and water, the Delhi police today took them to Ram Monohar Lohia Hospital for emergency medical care. More than 200 Tibetan supporters formed a human chain to block the police from reaching the hunger strikers. TYC say that about 87 people have been arrested today.

Around 500 policemen gathered around Jantar Mantar, and arrested the Tibetans who were stopping the police from reaching the hunger strikers.

All the six hunger strikers were said to be in a critical condition, among them Wangdue Phuntsok is said to be in an extremely serious state. Except Wangdue, all the hunger strikers are monks. The police and medical team say that if he did not get immediate medical attention he might not live. B. K Singh, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Conaught Place, said that the condition of the Tibetans was worsening and the police don’t want anyone to die.

Sodhak, 31, one of the hunger strikers chanted in Hindi as he was being carried towards the waiting ambulance, “Pyari hai pyari hai, azzadi sabko pyari hai, Baari hai baari hai, ab humari baari hai” (freedom is dear, freedom is dear, everyone loves freedom, it is turn, it is turn, Now it is our turn)

The hunger strike without food and water is a part of the TYC's Mass Movement.

Tenzin Dasel in Delhi contributed to this report

phayul.com

Hunger Strikers deemed critical; Medical treatment advised

2008-08-05T15:36:00.000-07:00

New Delhi, August 5 - The six Tibetan men who have survived on their strength of character so far see their material loss as a higher gain. Visibly weak on their 9th day without a morsel or drop of water the voice of six million have been elevated by six frail men.

The medical examiner from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital refused to speak to the media or assess the condition of the participants.

Jangchup Sangpo said yesterday, "With God's grace, I have not sensed extreme thirst or hunger so far. We are sacrificing our lives to save the Tibetan race, culture, religion and also for world peace on a larger front. We are capable of resisting our body's demands and can fight the desire to eat and drink. With our endeavor we hope to bring the Tibetan plight to the fore. It is imperative that Tibetans are not disheartened and work together towards attaining our purpose. If we succeed in bringing down the sufferings of those inside Tibet, our job here is done."

Each passing day presents a new threat to the hunger strikers. They are pushing their bodies to the max and physical limitations force them to face the inevitable. Extreme signs of weakness, lethargy, lack of sleep, muscle cramps and possibility of permanent organ damage loom large.

Wangdue Phuntsok, Tenpa Dharge and Tsering are said to be very critical. Shetser Nyima has dangerously low blood pressure. According to Vice President Dhondup Dorjee, "Doctors have been carrying out daily examinations for the last three days and recommended that they be treated…but we refused."

These men tread the thin line between life and death now. Without medical assistance they are bound to wither and die.

Although the hunger strikers have no qualm about forfeiting their lives, it is up to the organizers to choose if they can stand by and watch innocent lives perish.

phayul.com

At Odds with the Olympic Principles

2008-08-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

The Olympics symbolize peace, harmony and progress. The Principle 4 of the Olympic Charter states, "(the) practice of sports is a human right". Similarly, Principle 5 of the charter stress the importance of the Olympic spirit against any form of discrimination when it states,

"Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement".

Mr. Liu Jingmin, the Vice President of the Beijing Olympic bid told that in 2001 that, "by allowing Beijing to host the Games you will help the development of human rights." Accordingly, Mr. Jacques Rogge, the President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in April 2002 reassured that "the Olympic Games will improve human rights in China".

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Administration has, since the beginning, supported the Beijing Olympic Games as a fitting tribute to China's ancient civilization and a respect to the Chinese people's aspirations. However, in the name of Olympic security, the government of China has intensified security clampdown amounting to stifling of Tibetan people's religious freedom and human rights. Following are some of the examples to validate these concerns:

1. At present, whole of Tibet and Tibetan inhabited areas are under heavy military clampdown with the free movements of the Tibetan people highly restricted. The monasteries around Lhasa, including Drepung monastery, have been turned into a virtual prison with movements, in and out, of the monasteries strictly controlled.

2. Those Tibetans living in Beijing and other Chinese cities are put under scanner with majority of them asked to return back to their native places. Similarly, all the hotels and lodges wherever Tibetan people are found to be staying, the relevant police departments are ordered to conduct thorough inquiries, leading to embarrassment and harassment of the Tibetan origin customers. This is an outright discrimination on the basis of one's nationality and ethnic belonging.

3. Whole of Tibet is undergoing through an intense period of "patriotic reeducation campaign". The monks and nuns are forcibly asked to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Moreover, all the monks and nuns under the age of 18 years old are being expelled from their monasteries.

4. In some places as in Karze prefecture, the new regulation to close down the monasteries and demolition of monk's accommodation are under implementation. This regulation was recently enforced on the monastic communities in Tibet and is based on certain percentage of monks and nuns taking part in the protests.
5. Continuous crackdown on the peaceful protesters and unfair trial of the prisoners is still rampantly followed.

6. As the month of August approached, the movements of Tibetan people have been restricted almost in all the Tibetan areas. In some places such as Drago (Ch: Luhou) county in Karze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the authorities have even closed down the gas vending stations apparently to restrict the movements of those Tibetan who have their own vehicles.

7. A widespread clampdown on the communication facilities is undergoing with particular emphasis on the use of telephones and internet. Eavesdropping and surveillance of telephone conversations is in place with the police interrogating every incoming call from outside Tibet.

8. All the Tibetan officials and government employees have been debarred from seeking any leave during the month of August. Frequent and randomly conducted raids and arbitrary detention or arrest has become order of the day.

In sum, at this point of time, Tibet has become a large prison with all the restrictions imposed on the Tibetan people, whereas Chinese immigrants are free of any checks and control. In terms of human rights, the situation has markedly deteriorated in all of Tibet, without any significant improvement, in comparison to periods before.

In ancient Greece, a truce used to be announced before and during each Olympic festival. Wars used to be suspended, the carrying out of death penalties forbidden and safety of travellers and visitors were guaranteed. Even during the most infamous 1936 Olympic Games in the history of modern Olympics, Hitler's oppression of the Jews is no match to what China is doing in Tibet.

While China complains about the politicization of Olympics to avert international criticism of her rights records, it is but China herself who from the very beginning of the present Olympic Games has involved the issue of human rights to politicize the Games at the first place. China is still using the Games as a tool to push forward its political agenda.

Therefore, we urge all the countries and particularly the human rights organizations around the world to press the government of China to immediately halt all activities of repression and to respect the fundamental human rights and religious freedom of the Tibetan people.

Report-Tibetan Solidarity Committee

Tibet Demonstrators Sentenced

2008-08-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

According to known sources, the Lhasa City People's Middle Court has recently tried some Tibetan protesters who took part in the peaceful demonstrations on March 15 and 16 in Phenpo (Ch: Linzhi) county.

Among those known are a lady named Tenzin Lhamo and Samdup, both from Ugyen Mey village in Ganden Chokhor township under Phenpo county. The accused have been sentenced to 10 and 13 years respectively. Similarly four other Tibetans have been handed out lengthy sentence of 20, 17 and 13 years respectively among whom one is identified as Kalden of Dedrong village in Jhangka township.

It is, however, not known the exact prison term Kalden was handed out. Details of other Tibetans tried by the court also remain unknown. The whole trial is shrouded in mystery with little or no rights for any legal representations provided to the accused rendering the trial completely devoid of transparency and justice.

A Tibetan named Lobsang Dawa, born in Chushul (Ch: Qushui) county and residing in Phenpo Lhundup (Ch: Linzhi) was recently arrested by the Chinese security forces for allegedly participating in the March 14 demonstrations. His arrest came with the arrest of his elder brother Tendhar, a monk of Rato monastery. The whereabouts of the brothers are unknown since their arrest.

Those 53 nuns of Shar Bumpa nunnery who had been earlier arrested in March in connection with the peaceful demonstration in Phenpo have been released, but have been penalized Reminbi 2000-5000. After the release, the nuns were deprived of to rejoin their nunneries and ordered to leave for their respective native places.

Out of the total arrested nuns of this nunnery, five nuns are still under custody and believed to have been transferred a prison in Lhasa. Another nun named Lobsang Choezin, who suffered heavy beatings while in prison is undergoing treatment in the county hospital for her grave injuries. Her condition, according to sources, remain critical.

Report:- Tibetan Solidarity Committee on 01 August 2008

tibetpost.net

Online Tibet briefing blocked by Beijing

2008-08-05T15:27:00.000-07:00

An online media conference about freedom for Tibet was blocked in China today, confirming that internet access continues to be censored for international media at the Beijing Olympics.

Students for a Free Tibet held the live broadcast via their website, to update the situation in Tibet and outline plans for global action during the Olympic Games.

AAP was unable to access the website from Beijing. Each attempt to connect resulted in a note that the webpage could not be displayed.

However, journalists in Australia could participate in the conference without difficulty.

The governing body of the Olympics today said it never entered into a deal with Chinese authorities to censor the internet during the Beijing Games.

In a statement released today, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said it had always encouraged organizers of the Beijing Olympics to provide media with the fullest access possible during the Games, including internet access.

"The IOC would like to stress that no deal with the Chinese authorities to censor the internet has ever in any way been entered into," the statement said.

However, China's foreign ministry yesterday said it would continue to censor the internet during the Games, despite an international outcry.

"We are determined to implement the regulations," said foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao.

After 3 months of launching The Tibet Post International www.thetibetpost.com or www.tibetpost.net also blocked in Tibet and China according to its visitors feed back, the first independent news website for Tibet which publishes all news in 3 languages, Tibetan, Chinese and English which launched in May 2008.

tibetpost.net

"Shame on Olympic committee and foreign heads of government going to Beijing"

2008-08-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

By Nirmala Carvalho, The head of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy criticises Jacques Rogge’s silence on human rights, calls on political leaders attending the Olympics to ask Hu Jintao about the fate of 5,500 Tibetan prisoners. There are great fears that repression will increase after the Olympics.
Dharamsala (AsiaNews) - “Human rights have not improved with the Games; shame on the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and China,” said Urgen Tenzin, executive director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) who expects a “tragedy with reference to human rights once the Olympics are over.”

“If the Chinese do not care to improve the Human Rights situations in the run up to the Olympics, you can only imagine the post Olympics tragedy. China will heighten its repression against the Tibetan people once the Olympics have ended,” he said.

Tenzin noted that China won the right to host the Olympic Games because the IOC and Chinese authorities pledged to improve human rights.

The Tibetan activist points his finger at IOC President Jacques Rogge, who recently told a Belgian newspaper that “the IOC is not authorised and has no means to interfere in sovereign matters” like “the situation in Tibet”.

For Tenzin, the statement by the IOC director is “irresponsible”.

“The Chinese government made a commitment to the IOC to improve the human rights situation inside China and Tibet. Now those pledges have been blatantly ignored by both the IOC and the Chinese government.”

“At the Beijing Olympic Games, China will announce to the world its arrival as new power and sadly they will—as they have been doing—accuse HH the Dalai Lama and the [Tibetan] government-in-exile. Yet the Dalai Lama has always supported the Beijing Olympic Games; even Tibetans are supporting the Beijing Olympic Games. The Tibetans are not anti-Chinese; they are only against Chinese government policies.”

For Tenzin the IOC should ask for greater “transparency”.

“We are concerned that as a result of the 10 March demonstrations, at least 6,500 Tibetans were arrested. About a thousand were freed, but that leaves 5,500 still in prison. The news we have is that confessions have been extorted under torture and that trials are a farce.”

Tenzin calls on heads of state and government who are going to Beijing for the Olympic ceremonies “to use this opportunity to speak loud and clear about human rights and their violations in China and Tibet.”

The TCHRD director is concerned that “once the Olympics are over, China will increase its repression against the Tibetan people.”

Following the violence in Tibet last March and pressures from the international community, Beijing accepted after years to meet delegates from the Dalai Lama.

“Our special envoys returned to India and in their statement said that China has no political will to resolve the Tibetan issue,” he said. “The heads of state [going to Beijing] should speak to President Hu Jintao to engage in a meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama.”

Amnesty International backed Terzin’s allegations yesterday. For the international organisation human rights in China worsened since China won the right to host the Games. The London-based human rights group also accused the IOC of remaining silent towards Beijing.

tibetpost.net

China arrests four Tibetans for protesting against festival to greet Olympics

2008-08-05T15:18:00.002-07:00

Four Tibetan youth in Nangchen County in north eastern Qinghai Province were arrested on 26 July 2008 by the Chinese Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials for protesting against the Summer Festival planned by the Chinese government to greet the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

According to sources, the Chinese authorities of Nangchen County, Jyekundo (Ch: Yushu) "Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture" ('TAP') in Qinghai Province, have ordered all the township and villages authorities under it's administration to prepare and bring out a festive spectacle/performance during the planned summer festival in Drokshog Township, Nangchen County, to greet the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The planned five days Summer Festival with song and dance, and custom competition among villages at Drokshog Township in Nangchen County was officially announced about two months ago ordering compulsory participation from each family with rehearsal date set on 25 July 2008. It was confirmed that lyrics of songs prepared by each and every villages were thoroughly scrutinized by the authorities to ensure that no songs contain lyric latent with bereavement message of separation or message in praise of the exiled Dalai Lama or Gyalwa Karmapa. The people were known to have shown great displeasure over stern enforcement by the Chinese authorities.

On 26 July 2008, just three days before the actual commencement of the Summer festival, four Tibetans from Nangchen County � Asang Bersatsang, 21 years old, Ngoesoe Konkyaptsang, 35 years old, Jamsang and Gadho (age unknown) shouted slogans in the presence of a large number of local government officials and people at the site of the planned summer festival in Drokshog Township where people were setting up tents and making preparation for the festival. The four voiced their disapproval of the summer festival to greet the Olympic Games by saying, "this is not the year to celebrate as Tibetans have suffered untold repression under the Chinese regime, rather it is time to mourn and offer prayers (for those died and imprisoned in recent protests across Tibet)," "we want freedom" and "the Dalai Lama should return to Tibet". After their protest, while distributing pamphlets, the four requested Tibetans at the festival site to return to their respective villages. According to the source, Tibetans who have gathered for the festival preparation at Drokshog Township packed up their tents and gears in solidarity with the protesters leaving only the government tents at the festival ground. The Chinese authorities' planned summer festival at Drokshog Township in Nangchen County, to greet the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, was not able to go off because of mass pull out by people following protest by four Tibetans.

According to sources, in the same evening the four Tibetans were arrested from Drokshog Township by Nangchen County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials and detained at Nangchen County PSB Detention Centre. Following their detention, residents of Drokshog Township wrote an appeal letter to the County authorities on 28 July calling for their immediate release and stated that people will continue to stand behind until their release from the Detention Centre. As of now, there is no further information on the four arrested Tibetans.

The Centre expresses its serious concern at the continuous detention of the Tibetans, whose only crime had been _expression_ of their opinion in a peaceful manner. The constitution and law of China guarantees its citizen the right to freedom of _expression_ and opinion. In this context, TCHRD believes that the four Tibetans have not violated the laws of land and had resorted to any action that undermine the Chinese constitution. TCHRD therefore appeals to the Chinese authorities to immediately release all the detained Tibetans solely for exercising their fundamental human rights enshrined in her Constitution and various international human rights covenants that she is party to. TCHRD is particularly concerned about the level of strict security and repression that has been imposed on the daily lives of people in the name of pre-Olympic security sweep across Tibet and other areas.

tchrd

Police Arrest Tibet Bound Tibetans in Spiti

2008-08-05T15:18:00.001-07:00

New York, August 4 - Two Tibetans were arrested yesterday from Bhuntar airport in Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, India. Tenzin Tsundue and Lobsang were going to participate in a march to Tibet. The police had been tipped off about their arrival at the small Indian town yesterday and arrested the two immediately after their landing. However, the two were released earlier today. Both of them also took part in the march to Tibet which was earlier stopped by the Indian police at Dharchula, the last Indian village bordering Tibet in Uttranchal.

In another incident, around 60 people led by Shingtsa Rinpoche were taken into police custody at Kaza in Spiti Valley as they attempted to march to Tibet. It took police around four hours to arrest all the marchers as locals, mostly Buddhists, tried to stop and plead the police not to arrest the Tibetans. The locals while expressing their solidarity with the marchers tried to prevent the arrest of the Tibetans.

According to a source the arrested marchers have started a hunger strike without food and water in the local police station.

Shingza Tulku Lobsang Tenzin Choekyi Gyaltsen (”Shingza Rinpoche”) was born in Tsongon, Amdo (Qinghai) and is a prominent Lama at the Sera monastery in south India. He was one of the marchers who were earlier stopped at Dharchula.

Meanwhile in Delhi, heavy downpour and wind caused trouble to the six hunger strikers and their supporters as police and medical team stood by keeping a close watch. However, the police have not taken any hunger striker to hospital yet. In 1998, Thupten Ngodup of the Tibetan Youth Congress set himself ablaze when the Indian police forced Tibetan hunger strikers to hospital. On the same day. an important Chinese military officer was on a state visit to India.

This time around, people fear the Indian police might force the hunger strikers for medical care as the Olympics opening draws near.

Tenzin Dasel in Delhi contributed to this report

phayul.com

New report reveals intensified crackdown in Tibet as Olympics opens

2008-08-05T15:17:00.001-07:00

Despite its promotion of a 'peaceful Olympics', China has intensified its crackdown on Tibet this week following the most significant uprising in nearly 50 years. The wave of mainly peaceful protests against the Chinese government that has swept across Tibet since March 10 is a result of more than half a century of Communist Party misrule, revealing the breakdown of Beijing's Tibet policy at a time when China seeks to convey an image of pre-Olympics harmony.

In order to hide its repression in Tibet, China has virtually sealed off the entire plateau - despite promising increasing openness in the buildup to the Olympics - and imposed a news blackout. A new report to be published tomorrow by the International Campaign for Tibet, 'Tibet at a Turning Point: the Spring Uprising and China's New Crackdown' provides evidence gathered at great risk of:
The 'disappearance' and detention of hundreds of Tibetans, including monks, nuns and schoolchildren, who are treated with extreme brutality in custody

Unarmed peaceful protestors who have been shot dead, and names of those who have died following torture in prison or as a result of suicide due to despair over the crackdown or being made to denounce the Dalai Lama

More than 125 protests across the Tibetan plateau - the overwhelming majority non-violent. Tibetans have risked their lives to demonstrate that the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, represents Tibetan interests, and not the Chinese state

Sweeping new measures to purge monasteries of monks and ban worship in the wake of the protests, revealing a systematic new attack on Tibetan Buddhism led by Chinese leader Hu Jintao that is reminiscent of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution
Mary Beth Markey, Vice President for Advocacy for the International Campaign for Tibet, says: "Hu Jintao's leadership appears to have chosen no other means than force and intimidation to restore control in Tibet, and has imposed a brutal crackdown that owes more to the political extremism and paranoia of the Maoist era than to a 21st century would-be superpower. As a matter of urgency, world leaders attending the Olympics must publicly express concern in Beijing about the crackdown in Tibet and the hardline policies that led to the spring uprising."

The International Campaign for Tibet is also pressing leaders to seek from Beijing a full accounting of the more than one thousand Tibetans whose status following the spring demonstrations in Tibet is unknown.

President Hu, whose rise to power is linked to his role as former Party boss in Tibet, was involved in drafting the hardline policies that led to Tibet's spring uprising. In order to resolve the deepening crisis now, President Hu must be urged to engage directly with the Dalai Lama - recognized by the world as the pre-eminent representative of the Tibetan people - on Tibet's future.

phayul.com

13 ethnic Tibetan Party members expelled in Lhasa, Tibet

2008-07-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

{The Tibet Post International -16 July 2008}-Following a series of protests by Tibetans across Tibet since 10 March 2008, the Chinese authorities have embarked on numerous premeditated measures and steps to tighten control over the Tibetan people. The latest targets are identified as ethnic Tibetan Communist Party members and the government employees.

A new official regulation jointly prepared by the "Tibet Autonomous Region" ("TAR") Communist Party's Discipline Inspection Commission (Ch: Jie Wei) and "TAR" Government Discipline Committee (Ch: Jian cha ting) was officially announced yesterday, targeting Tibetan party members and government employees whose children are studying in the exiled educational institutions run by the "Dalai Clique", according to the latest information posted on the official website. (www.chinatibetnews.com). The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is very concerned that the implementation of this regulation will soon lead to expulsion of Tibetan employees and members who fail to comply and abrupt termination of children's education of those who return to Tibet.

The new official regulation jointly issued by the "TAR" Communist Party Discipline Inspection Commission and "TAR" Government Discipline Committee has warned their Tibetan party members and government employees of dire consequences and will act according to the Party rules and policies, if they fail to recall their children studying in exile educational institutions run by the "Dalai Clique".

Though a new regulation was formulated tentatively and soon to be officially promulgated and implemented in the mid of September this year, has primarily targeted Tibetan government employees and party members.

The announcement of the new regulation made yesterday clearly stated that, the "Dalai Clique has over the years cited free scholarship, boarding and food facilities to the young children in order to entice them to leave Tibet for schools and monasteries in exile. The young who are the future seeds were targeted by the Dalai clique by enticing with facilities in the exile schools and monasteries in order to challenge the party and the government."

The official announcement cited the reason for the formulation of a new regulation as to maintain stability and to oppose the 'splittist' forces within the Party members and "TAR" government employees. The new regulation, stated as "political regulation", has categorically mentioned that the Party members and government employees are not allowed to send their children to educational institutions in exile. The new regulation further stated that the act of sending children into exile educational institutions run by the "Dalai clique" goes against the Party rules and government policies and it will act and punish those accordingly.

A two-month ultimatum was issued yesterday to the ethnic Tibetan party members and government employees to recall their children studying in exiled educational institutions run by the Dalai clique. The announcement stated that, although a new regulation has been formulated, before its promulgation "TAR" government employees and the Party members should recall their children from the exiled educational institutions run by the Dalai clique within two months' period and should voluntarily surrender and explain before the concerned government department or the Party for leniency without penalty. The regulation further stated that those who have participated in "splittist" activities should surrender voluntarily for leniency.

Unfortunately, though well-educated and professionally competent, these students and monks will fall under surveillance and lack job security because of their affiliation with Tibetan exile institutions if they decide to return to their homeland. For those families who send their children to India for an education when there are no other options, harsh repercussions can be expected.

The announcement further stated that, however, after the promulgation of the new regulation, those party members and government employees who conceal information on or fail to recall their children studying in exile educational institutions run by the Dalai Clique within the stipulated deadline shall be expelled from the Party and fired from their government job. This new regulation shall be promulgated soon and will cover all the current Party members, government employees, retired Party members and government employees.

This is not the first time that such an ultimatum was issued. In 1994 a policy was instituted demanding that parents recall their children from India lest they be demoted or expelled from their jobs, and their children lose their rights to residence permits if they did not return to Tibet within a specified time. And many parents recalled their children studying in exile schools and many ended up terminating their education.

The new regulation aims to put the Tibetan employees and members through political litmus test of their ideological loyalty to the party and the government and to eliminates those with a history of separatist activities. The timing of the new regulation raises concern about the Chinese authorities intention towards managing Tibetan employees, party members and their children.

Following the recent series of protests across the Tibetan plateau, at the beginning of April, the Chinese authorities launched a renewed "Patriotic education" campaign covering almost every section of Tibetan communities with more rigor and intensity. The campaign not only targeted the monastic institutions but also government employees, security forces, farmers, nomads, private entrepreneur, educational institutions and Party cadres. The ethnic Tibetan Party cadres and government employees in particular comes under scanner with test of individual loyalty to the party, one's stand on the separatist forces, family background and way of thinking were thoroughly judged.

On 21 April, Dorjee Tsering, Lhasa City Mayor, has told that the "Patriotic education" campaign will be a standard litmus test for the party cadres and will be set as a standard barometer for testing one's loyalty to the Party.

Under the three themes, the renewed "patriotic education" campaign aims to 'educate' the masses about 'opposing splittism', 'protecting stability' and 'backing development', by holding meetings, inviting experts to give speeches, teaching and discussing the contents of the 'patriotic education' campaign, holding denunciation session of the Dalai Lama and screening propaganda shows.

According to reports posted on the official website, China's Tibet Information Centre, dated 10 July 2008, 13 Party members under Lhasa City were expelled from the Communist Party for their involvement in the "March 14 riot" and their failure to uphold the three themes under the renewed "patriotic education" campaign.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) remains highly disturbed by the new regulation imposed on the ethnic Tibetan Party members and government employees to recall their children studying in educational institutions run by the exiled government. It is highly probable that those parents who fail to comply with the official regulation will face expulsion from their job and could possibly face arrest. TCHRD remains highly concern about those children who are studying in the exile run educational institutions. It is highly regrettable that the Chinese authorities under the new regulation has not spared the children who risked their lives crossing high Himalayas to receive free and broad based education. The Chinese authorities should immediately withdraw this new regulation and respect the ethnic Tibetan government employees and party members rights.

www.tibetpost.net

Tibetans in Tibet continue to suffer arrest, torture and killing:

2008-07-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

{The Tibet Post International }-Today marks the completion of four months exactly since March 14, 2008 when Tibetans all over Tibet staged peaceful demonstration against the repressive rule of Chinese government, which was brutally and violently suppressed.

The Tibetan Solidarity Committee expresses its deepest admiration and respect to all the Tibetans both living and dead.

Within these past four months Tibetans in Tibet had to undergo unthinkable suffering at the hands of Chinese authorities simply for expressing their opinion in a peaceful manner, that led to violent crackdown resulting in more than five thousand Tibetans arrested, hundreds killed and thousands critically injured.

Cases of arrests, killings and torture still continue. With regard to number of peaceful protests so far, the Chinese government officially claimed that more than one hundred and fifty protests (both large and small scale) were recorded in Karze Province (Ch: Gansi) alone until July 3 2008 which makes an average of 1.30 protests a day.

Taking into consideration the way the Chinese Government has responded to the peaceful demonstration –by brutally cracking it down, instead of acknowledging to the grievances of the Tibetan people who asked for their human rights - it is obvious whether or not the Chinese Government considers Tibetans as their own nationality. In view of the Chinese Government's brutal crackdown, the Tibetans in Tibet had no other options but to rise in peaceful demonstration, as it is rightly summed up, where there is suppression, there is a revolt.

Unfair trial and a suicide of compulsion

2008-07-20T14:56:00.000-07:00

{The Tibet Post International }-According to confirmed information, the Ngapa (Ch: Aba) Prefectural People's Middle Court awarded on July 10 sentence ranging from 13 years to life imprisonment to three monks. The monks, Kelba (23), Terzoed (25) and Tsekho (27) were sentenced to life imprisonment, 15 years and 13 years respectively.

All the three monks hailed from Ngame Lota township of Ngaba county. The court alleged that the monks were found guilty of looting, burning and smashing during March 16 demonstrations in Ngaba. Without any right or opportunity to an independent lawyer to represent them, it is entirely a case of enforced judgment. It is still unknown where the monks have been imprisoned after the court's ruling.

On June 29 four Tibetans including Tsegyal Palbastsang was arrested in Genang in Jomda (Ch: Jiangda) county in Chamdo (Ch: Qamdo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of TAR. The local Tibetans therefore initiated a campaign for their release on June 31 but the Chinese security arrested another 32 Tibetans. Until the last report, except for seven Tibetans, all have been released.

The seven Tibetan still in custody are Tsegyal Pelbartsang (74), Jamyang Tsering Momotsang (46), Angyok (41), Palchen (38), Tsering (22), Chokdup (21) and Sonam Dhargyal (39). Due to his old age the prison officials in Chamdo refused to accept Tsegyal Pelbartsang who has been since held up in Jomda county prison. Similarly, despite his failing health condition, Sonam Dhargyal is still held in custody. No information is available on the whereabouts and where the other arrested Tibetans are incarcerated. The reason behind the initial arrest of four Tibetans is attributed to a protest that the local Tibetans had planned to stage after harvesting the caterpillar fungus (Yartsa Gunbu), which, however, may have leaked.

A monk named Trangma of Drapa Yangden monastery in Minyag township in Nyagchu (Ch: Yajiang) county, Karze (Ch: Ganzi) TAP reportedly committed suicide on June 18 for not being able to bear the pressure of denouncing His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Chinese authorities had launched a campaign of denunciation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and had ordered to fly the Red Star over the monastery.

The monk had, before his death, opined that it would be spiritually improper and defilement of his spiritual vows to denounce His Holiness and had declared instead to cut short his life. Following the death of the monk, the work team in the monastery ordered all not to disclose the circumstances of the monk's death to anybody outside. The authorities warned of dire consequences if anybody found to be doing so. Even the school run by the monastery which accommodated 30 students at the time was closed down.

In Karze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the prefectural government has ordered the restriction on outside movements of all Tibetans with effect from August onward. Despite an announcement few days back by the authorities in Karze county headquarter to release some of the arrested Tibetans, none has been released so far as many Tibetans waited in the hope for around five days. Many of the Tibetans are of the opinion that this was just a trick played by the authorities to avoid further protest.

The government has reportedly restricted the sale of petrol and diesel in many parts of Kham areas in an attempt to control the movements of the Tibetan people of the area. There are reports indicating supervision and control of the use of communication facilities as well including phones and internet etc. for at least two more months.

Across China, Security Instead Of Celebration

2008-07-20T14:55:00.000-07:00

YENGISHAHAR, China July 19 - Shortly after dawn on July 9, the local government here bused several thousand students and office workers into a public square and lined them up in front of a vocational school. As the spectators watched, witnesses said, three prisoners were brought out. Then, an execution squad fired rifles at the three point-blank, killing them on the spot.

The young men had been convicted of having connections to terrorist plots, which authorities said were part of a campaign aimed at disrupting the Beijing Olympics by the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, an underground separatist organization here in the vast Xinjiang region of western China. The group has long fought for independence on behalf of the region's Muslim Uighur inhabitants.

The public execution of the men was a dramatic example of the massive, unforgiving security operation that has been mounted in China to protect the Beijing Games from what Communist Party authorities describe as an urgent threat of violence and anti-government protest.

"Especially as the Beijing Olympic Games draw near, a range of anti-China forces and hostile forces are striving by any means and redoubling efforts to engage in trouble-making and sabotage," Yang Huanning, a vice minister of public security and an anti-terrorism specialist, said in a declaration to the Public Security Bureau's newspaper.

With the Games three weeks away, the precautions already have proved so sweeping that some observers question whether the sense of fellowship and fun that is supposed to accompany the Olympics can survive. Alongside the crackdown against Muslim extremists here in Xinjiang, for instance, have come confusing new visa restrictions, multiple roadside checkpoints, reinforced pat-downs at airports and subway stations, and raids on bars popular among foreigners. The result has been an atmosphere of coercion, not celebration.

On Thursday, China issued a manual advising the public what to do in the case of a terrorist attack, according to state-run media. The manual included guidance on how to respond to 39 scenarios including explosions, kidnappings and shootings, and attacks involving chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, China's leaders have extended the scope of their concerns to include peaceful political protests. In public and private comments, Chinese officials have seemed just as determined to prevent pro-Tibet demonstrators from unfurling banners in front of television cameras as they are to head off hotel bombings by Muslim extremists, according to Chinese specialists and foreign diplomats.

The Beijing Public Security Bureau warned recently on its Web site that any demonstration must have prior approval from authorities, in effect banning anti-government protest.

Aware of the misgivings about overkill, Chinese authorities have said their top priorities must be to guarantee the safety of Olympic athletes and spectators, and to prevent political protests from ruining the display of international harmony long promised to the Chinese people. If the resulting security measures seem heavy-handed to some foreigners, they have said, it is only because of a failure to understand the stakes involved.

"A safe Olympics is the biggest indicator of the success of the Games," Xi Jinping, a member of the party's elite Politburo Standing Committee and the senior official supervising preparations, said in a recent speech. "A safe Olympics is also the biggest indicator of the positive reflection of our nation's image."

Ma Xin, a government security expert who is part of an Olympic advisory team, said security must be tight not only because of the threat of violence but also because thousands of foreign dignitaries will be on hand, including President Bush, and could become targets for international terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda.

Added Liu Jiangyong, a national security specialist at Qinghua University's Institute of International Studies: "The more China wants to show hospitality, the more it should pay attention to security issues."

A Three-Layer Barrier

At a checkpoint in Hebei province near Beijing's southern suburbs, more than 100 cars lined up Wednesday afternoon at the entrance to National Highway 107, awaiting a security check. The checkpoint was staffed by a dozen men in police and camouflage uniforms, several carrying weapons.

Drivers and their passengers were asked to produce identification while security agents searched underneath the cars and opened suitcases. Foreign passport holders were singled out for extra scrutiny, and their IDs were checked against what appeared to be a national database.

The checks were part of what officials have described as a three-layer security barrier around Beijing that was implemented Tuesday and that is scheduled to last through the Olympics, which run from Aug. 8 to 24. All vehicles entering the capital are subject to search at any of the hundreds of checkpoints constituting the three security rings, officials said.

At the Beijing airport -- which will close during the opening ceremony -- passengers also have been warned that, beginning July 20, they will be subject to a search at the entrance in addition to already meticulous security inspections between check-in counters and boarding gates.

Here in the Xinjiang region, the precautions are even more severe. Boarding a flight at the Urumqi airport Wednesday required six inspections between curbside and the airplane door.

Aside from 80,000 police officers and half a million neighborhood volunteers mobilized for the Olympic period in Beijing, officials announced, 100,000 anti-terrorism troops have been put on alert, and people's movements will be monitored by 300,000 surveillance cameras erected throughout the city.

The Defense Ministry said the soldiers have been ordered to guard against chemical attacks or assaults by hijacked aircraft in addition to bombings or kidnappings. Hongqi 7 air-to-ground missile batteries have been set up near the Olympic playing fields and warships have been assigned to cruise offshore while the Games are underway. The People's Liberation Army also plans to have unmanned drones in the air to increase surveillance, according to the official New China News Agency.

Security officials have displayed equal zeal in seeking to make peaceful but embarrassing protests impossible during the Games. Under the newly rigorous visa restrictions, Chinese consular officials abroad have been told to refuse entry to anyone who "may do things that are harmful to China."

Television networks that spent millions of dollars on broadcast rights are still negotiating the extent to which they will be able to do live shots from Tiananmen Square. The iconic esplanade in central Beijing was the site of the June 4, 1989, crackdown against pro-democracy protesters; it would be an ideal site for foreign or Chinese demonstrators seeking to take advantage of the world's attention during the Olympics.

At a negotiating session July 9 with the International Olympic Committee, Chinese officials said live broadcasts from Tiananmen would be allowed only from 6 to 10 a.m. and 9 to 11 p.m. Beijing time. Only correspondents would be allowed to speak, they said, not invited guests who could make political comments.

Separatist Group Targeted

The East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which mounted a number of fatal bombings in Xinjiang during the 1990s, has been designated a terrorist organization by the Chinese government. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration agreed, saying its leaders have links to al-Qaeda. But the group's exiled spokesmen repeatedly have denied the connection, saying they are only seeking independence for Uighurs, who speak a Turkic language and look more Central Asian than Chinese.

Authorities have moved aggressively against the group, which they have said presents the leading threat of terrorism during the Olympics.

On the day before the executions this month, police in Urumqi, the regional capital 600 miles northeast of Yengishahar, raided an apartment in a gated, middle-class community and killed five Uighurs who the authorities said were preparing for "holy war." The official New China News Agency, quoting Urumqi officials, said those in the apartment, 10 men and five women, wielded knives and resisted arrest when surrounded by police.

Those who survived said they had received training to launch attacks against the growing numbers of Han Chinese who have been encouraged to immigrate to Xinjiang and who now make up more than half the regional population of about 20 million, the agency said.

Separately, authorities announced in March that an alert airline crew had prevented a man and a woman from blowing up an airplane that took off from Xinjiang. They were later identified as Muslim separatists traveling on Pakistani passports.

Chen Zhuangwei, who heads the Urumqi Public Security Bureau, said that in all, police have broken up five terrorist groups in Xinjiang since the beginning of the year and have arrested 82 people on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks during the Beijing Olympics. At the same time, Chen told local media, police closed 41 training bases for holy war, interpreted as closures of unauthorized Islamic schools.

Those executed here July 9 were among 17 people convicted in nearby Kashgar of being members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Radio Free Asia, the U.S.-funded broadcast service, said the others were sentenced to jail terms from 10 years to life.

All were captured in January 2007, when Chinese authorities said they raided a terrorist training camp, killing 18 members of the group and arresting the 17, according to what officials announced during the execution. Several local residents said some of those killed were strangers, but others were well known in Yengishahar, a garrison town near the border with Pakistan. The executions went down poorly.

"It was not a good thing, what the Chinese did," said a Uighur witness who discussed what he saw on the condition of anonymity.

Correspondent Ariana Eunjung Cha and researcher Liu Songjie in Beijing contributed to this report.

phayul.com

Guess who's not invited to the Olympics?

2008-07-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

BEIJING - The Dalai Lama may be the guest of honour of U.S. President George W. Bush, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders, but you won't find Tibet's exiled spiritual leader on the Beijing Olympics guest list.

Also missing from the list is Ma Ying-jeou, the Harvard-educated, democratically elected president of self-ruled Taiwan which Beijing has claimed as its own since their split in 1949 amid civil war, despite a recent thaw in relations.

The Dalai Lama's appearance could have helped repair China's international image, which was dented by a government crackdown following rioting among Tibetans in March -- the worst in the Himalayan region since 1989. But China fears he would steal Chinese President Hu Jintao's thunder.

"It's supposed to be Hu Jintao's Olympics, but it'll become the Dalai Lama's Olympics if he attends," a source familiar with government policy said requesting anonymity.

The Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, had said during a visit to London in May that he hoped to attend the August 8-24 Games if talks between his envoys and China produced results.

China has not rejected the Dalai Lama's overtures outright, but hopes were dampened when the closed-door talks ended with the government-in-exile accusing China of lacking sincerity.

The Chinese government has blamed the Dalai Lama and his followers for instigating the March unrest and attempting to sabotage the Olympics, charges he has repeatedly denied.

For China, the Games are supposed to showcase the prosperity and modernization of what is now the world's fourth-biggest economy after three decades of economic reforms and rapid growth.

AND MA?

Ma is a different story. China has mixed feelings for the Taiwan president, who is opposed to Taiwan formally declaring independence, a stance Beijing welcomes.

But Ma has repeatedly urged China to politically reassess the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests -- anathema to the country's leaders.

Beijing has sought to push Taiwan into diplomatic isolation and considers the island a province that must eventually return to the fold, by force if necessary.

"(Dignitaries) attending the Olympic opening are all heads of state, but China does not recognize Taiwan as a state," Taiwan political analyst Andrew Yang said by telephone.

"How will (Hu Jintao) address Ma Ying-jeou? 'Taiwanese leader' won't be acceptable to the Taiwan people or Ma."

Hawks in the Chinese government are opposed to the Dalai Lama's visit, worried that thousands of Tibetans would flock to Beijing by plane, train, bus or horseback to catch a glimpse of their revered god-king, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989.

There are more than 10 ministerial-level government and Communist Party bodies with a stake in blocking the Dalai Lama's return, including the local governments of Tibet, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Public Security, the People's Liberation Army and the paramilitary People's Armed Police.

For China, domestic stability during the Olympics is far more important than international applause.

"Even if there are people who want to change things, they would have all sorts of worries," Wang Lixiong, a Chinese author and expert on Tibet, said in an interview.

"In China, government officials do not hope for achievements but they hope to avoid committing mistakes," Wang said, referring to political risks for the leadership.

(Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

phayul.com

Tibetan nomad sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for “splittism”

2008-07-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

A semi-nomadic Tibetan layman, Adak Kalgyam, has been sentenced to five years imprisonment, according to reports received by Free Tibet Campaign from a highly trusted source.

The sentencing was handed down on 14 July by the Dartsedo (Chinese: Kangding) People’s Court in Kandze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) (Chinese province: Sichuan). Adak was sentenced for the crime of “inciting splittism”, according to the source.

Adak Kalgyam, 27 years old, is the youngest of seven brothers. He is married with two young daughters and is from Kashul village in Lithang county. He had studied in Drepung monastery in South India for three years before returning to Tibet in 2001.

Kalgyam was arrested on October 3 2007. A patriotic education campaign had been implemented in Lithang county following the arrest of Tibetan nomad, Runggye Adak (Adak Kalgyam’s uncle), in August 2007. The arrest had led to large-scale protests by nomads in the area. As part of the patriotic education programme, a meeting was called in Lithang county on October 2. Local officials at the meeting had demanded that local Tibetans say that they were happy to live in Tibet. Adak Kalgyam refused to comply with the officials’ demands and instead shouted: “Long live His Holiness” [the Dalai Lama] and “We want His Holiness to return to Tibet”. The authorities attempted to arrest Kalgyam but were prevented by other Tibetans at the meeting. Kalgyam was arrested the following day.

From the time of his arrest on October 3, Kalgyam’s family were denied access to him. They were not even told where he was being held, despite constantly requesting Lithang county police station to tell them where he was being held, according to the source. On 13 July 2008 his family was told that he was to be sentenced the following day by the Dartsedo People’s Court. Up until the time of his sentencing, Kalgyam had had no access to a lawyer. His family was allowed to speak to him on 14 July, according to the source. Kalgyam told them that his health was normal but that he had been hospitalised for one month due to earlier maltreatment in prison. According to the source, Kalgyam told his family that he had been subjected to solitary confinement in a dark cell on a number of occasions which had led him to faint sometimes. His family reported that marks from handcuffs were still visible.

Adak Kalgyam is connected to Tibetans sentenced to lengthy prison terms last year following a huge protest by nomadic Tibetans at the Lithang horse festival in Lithang county (Chinese province: Sichuan) in August 2007. The 2007 protests followed the arrest of a Tibetan nomad, Runggye Adak,who had mounted the stage at the horse festival and made an impassioned call for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet. His call had been greeted by roars of approval from the Tibetan crowd.

Runggye Adak was sentenced to eight years imprisonment by the Kandze (Chinese: Ganzi)Intermediate Court on November 20 for “inciting splittism”. Adak Kalgyam’s eldest brother, Adak Lopoe was sentenced with Runggye Adak. Lopoe was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for “colluding with foreign separatist force [a reference to Lopoe’s alleged attempts to distribute photos of the protests] to split the country and distributing political pamphlets”, according to Radio Free Asia.

The source was not able to say why Adak Kalgyam was sentenced so long after the sentences handed down to Runggye Adak and Adak Lopoe.

Following their sentencing, Runggye Adak and Adak Lopoe had been held at an undisclosed location in Ngawa (Chinese: Aba) county in Kham (Chinese province: Sichuan). After the Sichuan earthquake of May 12 2008, Runggye Adak and Adak Lopoe were moved from Ngawa county to Dartsedo. Their families requested meetings with the prisoners but were denied access and were told that no visits would be allowed until after the Beijing Olympics.

phayul.com

Chinese impose blackouts for new Tibetan monk deaths

2008-07-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

A month before the Olympics, China is so determined to present a trouble-free image to the world that it has imposed a news blackout on reports of continuing deadly unrest in Tibetan parts of the country.

Three Tibetan sources, all speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Times that two monks at a monastery in western Sichuan province that borders Tibet proper were killed in a clash on July 12. For monks of what are popularly known as the “red hat” sects, the date is one of the most auspicious festivals of the year.

It is the first report of the deadly use of gunfire against Tibetan protesters demanding the return of the exiled Dalai Lama and independence since April 2 at the Tongkor monastery, some 100 miles to the south.

However, a dozen calls to the town of Dege, in a remote region on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, resulted in exhortations to be calm or professions of ignorance of any incident on that date. Information has barely managed to trickle out from an area where People’s Liberation Army troops man roadblocks around almost every town and village.

The Tibetan sources said the trouble erupted when monks at the Gonchen monastery, one of the most prominent in the region and renowned as a centre for the printing of Buddhist sutras or scriptures, attempted to mark a festival that falls on the tenth day of the sixth month of the Tibetan calendar.

The festival pays homage to the birthday of Padmasambhava, or Guru Rimpoche, the founder of Tibetan Buddhism. But officials assigned to the monastery to ensure that all monks are indoctrinated in Chinese law and discouraged from supporting the Dalai Lama, especially since a deadly March 12 riot in Lhasa, refused to allow the men to hold their traditional dances.

What exactly happened next may never be clear. China has imposed a blackout on information from the region. A worker at one local hotel said: “The incident on July 12 was just an accident. Everything is safe here.” Another said: “The monasteries are open to visitors.” A government official hung up the phone when asked about the incident.

Chinese officials installed in the monastery refused to answer questions.

Tibetan sources were too afraid to give details of what exactly happened after the confrontation between the monks and security. They said officers from the paramilitary People’s Armed Police were deployed to halt any violence and shots were fired. One said: “Two monks were killed. These were my relatives.” The government in Beijing is particularly eager to suppress any details of unrest in Tibetan areas, particularly reports of fatal violence, with less than one month to go before it shows off its economic and social achievements to the world with the August 8-24 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Security authorities have repeatedly stressed their anxiety about threats of terrorist attack from the Muslim Uighur ethnic minority living in its westernmost Xinjiang region. Just this week, they said they had tracked down 12 terrorist groups operating in the region. Earlier, Communist authorities said they had arrested gangs planning to kidnap athletes and foreign journalists at the games.

There have been no reports of threats from Tibet’s restive monks. But a ban on spectators waving flags from any non-participating countries is a move to prevent groups that advocate independence for the deeply Buddhist Himalayan region from brandishing its “snow lion” flag that has come to be associated with bids to separate the Roof of the World from China.

phayul.com

We must not ignore suffering of Tibet

2008-07-18T14:07:00.001-07:00

Tibet, the broad, high plateau between India and China, is bigger than Western Europe and the source of the great rivers of Asia. Mysterious and exotic, the "Roof of the World" is the place of Tantric Buddhism, seers and mystics capable of levitation and astral travel.

I visited Tibet in summer 2001, landing at Gonggar Airport. The emotionless faces and starched uniforms of the Chinese military officials who supervised my arrival were the first reminder of Tibet's political oppression. Outside, communist party tour guides awaited their assignments. My official communist guide, "Will," worked for the government-run tourist agency.

Americans are always anxious to tour sites in exotic places, but never ready for the shock of traveling under the shadow of an oppressive regime. My guide's goal was to indoctrinate me into the communist view of Tibet. Because I was a mayor of an American town, he assumed I could assert influence on public opinion. The public opinion the communist Chinese propagandists promote is not a flattering picture of the Tibetan people.

Since the Red Army invasion of Tibet in 1949, hundreds of thousands of Tibetans have been exterminated and thousands of ancient Buddhist temples destroyed. "Religion is poison," Chairman Mao told the Dali Llama in 1954, just before the Dali Llama and more than 150,000 followers fled to permanent exile in India. After the invasion, China began a policy of ruthless repopulation, moving millions of Chinese into Tibet.

"Will" slandered the Tibetan people from the moment we climbed in the Land Rover until I left the country. The Dalai Lama, Will claimed, was responsible for having the airport placed 60 dangerous miles from Lhasa, the world's highest capital city at 15,000 feet, decades ago, saying the religious leader proclaimed airplanes should not be flying over the heads of Buddhists.

Will continued a carefully rehearsed diatribe about the evils of the Dalai Lamas, describing heinous methods of torturing their enemies. There was no discussion of the message of peace that is the center of the Buddhist faith. Tibetans are small, smiling frequently. They flock to monasteries on pilgrimages to pray and offer gifts and incense.

As we headed cross country over rugged terrain, at points the dirt roads stopped altogether. He pointed to the side of a mountain to what he said was a road. "Beijing is building a modern road system that the Tibetans could never build. They need us here" he said.

I asked him why we were not driving on the modern roads. There were no modern roads the entire trip. He told me they were still under construction. "The Chinese have been here for 50 years. How long does it take them to build roads?" I asked. He ignored my question.

My personal propaganda machine, courtesy of Beijing, continued attacking Tibetan family structure, accusing them of polygamy, polyandry, and wife swapping among brothers, husband swapping among sisters. He proclaimed his horror over Tibetan funeral rituals, accusing them of mutilating bodies in broad daylight. He claimed Buddhist monks would ask for sexual favors from women of their choice. If these women failed to submit, the monk could point a finger, declaring her a "ghost." The townspeople would believe the woman to be an evil spirit and she would spend the rest of her life shunned from society.

As peaceful as the Tibetan people are, they do not lack the desire to be free. Isolated from the rest of the world, it has been easy to ignore their tragic plight. Media are tightly controlled, and access is difficult. Expanded trade with China leaves world leaders reluctant to complain about the violations of human rights.

With the Olympics only weeks away, the world will get a closer look at Tibetan suffering.

Steve Lonegan is the former mayor of Bogota.

phayul.com

Nepal police break up Tibet protests, 118 held

2008-07-18T14:04:00.000-07:00

KATHMANDU - Hundreds of protesters calling for independence for Tibet protested in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu on Friday, and police said they took 118 demonstrators into custody for organising anti-China demonstrations.

Many were Tibetan exiles shouting "We want free Tibet" slogans. They burned an effigy of the Chinese President Hu Jintao near a consular office of the Chinese embassy in the Nepali capital.

They were then hauled into police vans and trucks and taken to detention centres. A police official said they would be freed later on Friday.

Tibetans have protested regularly in Nepal since the deadly Chinese crackdown on riots in Lhasa and other parts of Nepal.

More than 20,000 Tibetans still live in Nepal since fleeing their homeland after a failed uprising against Beijing in 1959.

phayul.com

Tibetan flags banned at Olympic equestrian event

2008-07-18T14:03:00.001-07:00

HONG KONG (AP) -- Tibetan flags will be banned from all Olympic equestrian events in Hong Kong under rules aimed at heading off political propaganda and protests inside competition venues, organizers said Friday.

The crackdown guidelines apply to flags representing countries and regions without athletes in the events. Demonstrations, as well as any "propaganda" appearing on banners, clothing or other accessories, won't be allowed either.

Organizers said violators will be kicked out.

"I think most people who come to these events would hope nobody is allowed to spoil the fun and the purpose of the games," John Breen, security coordinator for the equestrian events, said at a news conference in Hong Kong.

The territory, which is hosting the equestrian event for the Beijing Olympics, has become a possible magnet for demonstrators as mainland China has tightened visa restrictions ahead of the games.

A former British colony now ruled by China, Hong Kong is supposed to enjoy Western-style civil liberties and grants visa-free access to citizens of many Western countries.

However, Hong Kong has acted to restrict demonstrators in some cases. In May, immigration officials turned back pro-Tibet activists who flew into Hong Kong before its leg of the Olympic torch relay.

The equestrian rules, based on the Olympic charter, approximate ones governing venues in mainland China, Breen said. They were written in consultation with and approved by the Beijing organizing committee for the games.

"Broadly we are aiming to deal with the same misbehavior," Breen said.

Organizers will deploy about 300 of their own security personnel to venues during competition days in addition to the 4,000 officers police plan to mobilize.

The illusion of calm in Tibet

2008-07-15T14:44:00.001-07:00

After a botched response to bloody riots in Tibet in March, the Chinese authorities have ruthlessly restored order. But anti-Chinese resentment is deep-seated

VISITORS to Rongwo Monastery, a sprawling 700-year-old complex on the edge of the Tibetan plateau, might notice little untoward. There are no open signs of protest, of the sort that presaged vicious rioting in Tibet in March. But in one shrine a monk chants near a portrait of the Dalai Lama, prominently displayed despite the government’s diatribes against the exiled spiritual leader. And police cars patrol the streets nearby: nervous, say residents, that protests could erupt anew.

Security around Rongwo, as it is known to Tibetans (its Chinese name, like that of the adjacent town, is Longwu), is far less visible than it was a few weeks ago when police surrounded the monastery, raided monks’ quarters and took many away to jail. No police are to be seen inside the hillside monastery. But a monk says some 200 of his colleagues in the 500-strong community have been detained since Rongwo joined the wave of protests that swept the plateau. Many are still in custody, and, says the monk, it is “very tense”. Near Rongwo is a much smaller monastery, which until recently was a popular destination for lovers of Tibetan religious artefacts, production of which creates hundreds of jobs in the area. It is now all but empty of visitors. A monk there says two of his colleagues have been seized by security officials.

As Beijing prepares to host the Olympic games in August, the authorities are trying, unconvincingly, to reassure the world that calm has returned to Tibet and ethnic-Tibetan parts of neighbouring provinces, such as Qinghai, to which Rongwo belongs, and much of which is considered by Tibetans part of their historical territory.

On June 21st the Olympic torch was paraded through the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, without incident but under huge security. Three days later the authorities announced that foreign tourists would be allowed back into Tibet for the first time since rioting erupted in Lhasa on March 14th. But they were supposed to join guided tours and stick to preset routes. On July 1st and 2nd Chinese officials held talks in Beijing with representatives of the Dalai Lama, the second such meeting since the riots. This time the Tibetans were treated to a tour of Olympic facilities in Beijing. But the talks got nowhere. The Dalai Lama’s team agreed to talk again in October but said that “in the absence of a serious and sincere commitment” on the Chinese side, it would “serve no purpose”.

Despite China’s promises of greater openness for the Olympics, foreign journalists still need special permission to visit Tibet. It is usually refused. About 50, none of them from The Economist, were invited to cover the torch parade in Lhasa, but were closely watched. Your correspondent reached Rongwo without hindrance, but was stopped twice at police checkpoints while leaving. Travellers say security is much tighter in Tibetan areas of Sichuan where several demonstrators were shot by security forces in March. In some monasteries police have seized computers and mobile telephones from monks to suppress news of the security operation.

Chinese officials want to win favour in the West by renewing talks with the Dalai Lama’s aides. The Dalai Lama is a moderate: many Tibetans do not share his willingness to accept Chinese sovereignty in return for genuine autonomy. But some Chinese officials see him as the source of their Tibet problem. The Communist Party chief in Tibet, Zhang Qingli, used the torch ceremony to assert that Tibet could “thoroughly smash the separatist plots of the Dalai Lama clique”. Even the usually tongue-tied International Olympic Committee expressed regret at the remark. Some government-controlled websites omitted it in reporting the speech. This could reflect differences over whether to seek a compromise with the Dalai Lama or to try even harder to erase his influence.

Chinese leaders must be relieved by America’s announcement on July 3rd that George Bush will attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Relations with the West, though strained by recent events in Tibet, have not been critically damaged. France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, had been the most outspoken of Western leaders in linking the clampdown in Tibet to a possible boycott of the games. But this week, after meeting China’s president, Hu Jintao, at the G8 summit in Japan, he confirmed he would attend. Popular sympathy in the West for the Dalai Lama and Tibet is outweighed by the fear of antagonising China.

The leadership in Beijing, however, must also be asking itself whether the crisis in Tibet could have been avoided. As the dust settles, perhaps temporarily, it has become clearer that the unrest could have been far better handled. The rioting could have been stopped well before it engulfed the city, averting the deaths of the 20 or so ethnic-Han Chinese the government says were killed in fires set by the rioters. And had the unrest been more quickly contained, it might not have spawned sympathy protests across the plateau, even in monasteries such as Rongwo, some 1,200km (750 miles) from the Tibetan capital.

The security forces’ response was highly unusual compared with their usual tactics for dealing with protests in Tibet and elsewhere in China. In 1993 the authorities quelled a riot in central Lhasa using tear-gas and plastic bullets. This time they kept well away from the rioting. Even if troops did shoot at people, it was not part of a concerted effort to stop the unrest.

Your correspondent, who happened to be the only foreign journalist in Lhasa at the time, reported in March that the rioting began to spread along the city’s main thoroughfare, Beijing Road, in the early afternoon, “a short while” after a clash between monks and security officials outside Ramoche temple some 200 metres up a side street. But in fact the eruption of citywide rioting was slower than this suggested. Witnesses speak of the unrest outside Ramoche temple starting before 11.30am, well before your correspondent arrived at Beijing Road around 1.30pm and saw the rioting fan out through the narrow alleys of Lhasa’s old Tibetan quarter.

Until just before then the unrest, including some stone-throwing by Tibetans at police, was confined to a small area. Oddly, however, your correspondent was nearby in a government car at around 12.30pm and saw no sign of beefed-up security. Foreign tourists say three lorryloads of paramilitary troops arrived at around 1.15pm. They crouched behind shields at the junction of Beijing Road and the Ramoche temple side-street. But the troops scattered within a few minutes after being bombarded with stones. Some of them abandoned their shields. Photographs show that several of the security personnel, although carrying shields and wearing helmets, were in civilian clothes. They did not look ready to defend themselves against rioters, let alone to try to stop them.

Why not read the riot act?

There are a number of possible explanations for this half-hearted response to such a big incident. It may have been simple bungling by a security apparatus overstretched by an outbreak of large-scale protests earlier in the week outside big monasteries on the edge of the city. Or perhaps official decision-making was paralysed by differences over what to do, and hindered by the absence of Mr Zhang, the party chief, who was in Beijing at the time.

The slow and cackhanded reaction is puzzling nonetheless. China, after all, faces tens of thousands of protests and riots every year, most swiftly contained. This month in Guizhou province, some 30,000 people protested in Weng’an county at the authorities’ handling of the death of a girl they believed raped and murdered. It turned into an ugly riot. But those involved were soon detained. There was also a purge of the local political leadership, blamed for losing public confidence.

The security forces and political apparatus had long been nervous in Tibet especially. Indeed they had been gearing themselves for just such an outbreak of violence. The government’s public claims that Tibet was stable were disingenuous, as was their dismissal of past unrest as ancient history. A series of anti-Chinese protests from 1987 to 1989 culminated in the imposition of martial law in Lhasa for more than a year.

Since then, officials, not least the hardliner Mr Zhang, who was appointed in 2005, have never let down their guard. In 2006 the security forces, fearing attacks by Tibetan terrorists (not that any are known to be active), staged what the government described as the biggest protection operation in the region’s history. The occasion was the grand opening of Tibet’s first rail link with the rest of China. Official records say this involved a series of exercises for dealing with terrorist and other “sudden incidents” (ie, riots), heightened surveillance of monasteries and the deployment of thousands of paramilitary troops along the railway line. In October last year police and paramilitary officers in Lhasa rehearsed rapid-response measures to cope with possible disturbances during the national-day holiday and the Communist Party’s congress in Beijing.

In 2006 officials responsible for religious and ethnic affairs in Tibet circulated a secret document predicting that the train link could create instability in urban areas. Sure enough, ethnic-Han Chinese, many of them recent migrants hoping to profit from a train-related tourism boom, were the main targets of the violence in Lhasa.

Even if officials had ignored such warnings, the protests at Lhasa’s monasteries on March 10th and 11th were the biggest in the city since 1989 and provided ample warning of bigger trouble ahead. And Tibetan radicals outside China—not including the Dalai Lama, who supports the Beijing games—had made no secret of their plans to use the Olympics to publicise their grievances. On March 13th, the eve of the riots, security in central Lhasa was visibly tighter than normal in the city, which is ringed by military encampments. That day one of the Dalai Lama’s representatives sent a letter to a senior official in Beijing, warning him that unless managed carefully the situation in Tibet might become “difficult for all of us to handle”.

Yet by 1.30pm on March 14th, as the riots began to spread beyond the area near the Ramoche Temple, the security presence had all but disappeared from that part of the city. Once the riots began to spread, officials may have worried that any effort to control them would lead to bloodshed that would damage China’s image in the build-up to the games. But it is also possible that some officials actually wanted the violence to escalate, as a pretext to impose blanket security on the city long before the Olympics. They might have calculated that tensions in Lhasa were likely to present a growing security headache in the run-up to the games, and that foreign scrutiny would become more intense. By refraining from an immediate bloody crackdown they might even gain international kudos for avoiding a Tiananmen-style response. Chinese officials may have been genuinely surprised that, in the event, Western reaction was overwhelmingly negative.

This response was fuelled by a widespread perception outside China, encouraged by reports from Tibetans in exile, that large-scale bloodshed had indeed occurred. But it is still not known whether the security forces shot anyone at all during the unrest of March 14th and 15th in Lhasa. Figures used by Tibetans abroad have fudged the issue. The Dalai Lama himself says more than 200 people have been killed by Chinese security forces since March. But he and his aides have provided scant detail. There is little doubt that several were shot in other parts of the plateau, most notably in Sichuan, where several dozen may have been killed.

In the case of Lhasa the Tibetan government-in-exile has published a list of only 23 Tibetans killed on March 14th and 15th. But it is unable to provide a consistent account of these incidents. In an interview with The Economist in May, the Dalai Lama admitted he was uncertain about how the unrest developed in Lhasa and the details of any shooting by the security forces there: “There is a lot of confusion and contradictory information.”

No photographs have come to light from Lhasa of violence by police or troops on March 14th or 15th, nor of any resulting casualties. Photographs of dead bodies displayed in the streets of Dharamsala, the seat in exile in northern India of the Dalai Lama, are said to be those of Tibetans shot in Sichuan. Yet camera-equipped mobile phones are widely used in Lhasa and internet services remained uninterrupted during the rioting. Georg Blume of Die Zeit, a German newspaper, who arrived in Lhasa on March 15th just after the riots, says he expected to hear residents describe a massacre. But in nearly a week of interviews he was unable to confirm any reports of killings by the security forces.

The relay of the Olympic torch through Lhasa was much curtailed for security reasons—though officials claimed the truncation was somehow related to the devastating earthquake in Sichuan in May. Officials must have been deeply relieved. Their original plans for three days of ceremonies across Tibet would have been a security nightmare—and would have been even worse had there been no crackdown in March. Foreign journalists and tourists as well as a sprinkling of Tibetan exiles would have poured in. Disgruntled Tibetans would have sensed an opportunity.

Whether deliberate or incompetent, the authorities’ failure to stop the rioting at the outset has been a bigger setback for Tibet’s long-term stability and China’s foreign relations than any official is likely to have calculated on March 14th. Chinese officials appeared to condone the xenophobic outcry triggered by Western criticism of the clampdown. The party, after all, prides itself on its nationalist credentials. But the outburst has also shaken party officials. They are ever fearful that they might become the target of their own citizens’ anger. The earthquake helped restrain the nationalist anger. But as Sharon Stone, an American actress, found in May when she suggested that the earthquake could have been karmic retribution for the clampdown in Tibet, it is easily reawakened.

A matter of trust

The Dalai Lama expresses little optimism. He says that because of the unrest the Chinese government might now rally round the view held by some of its officials that “they can’t trust any Tibetans”. It might, he said, step up “demographic aggression” by sending more ethnic-Han Chinese into the region. The Dalai Lama talks of reports that the Chinese have fenced off land and speculates that this might be given to settlers. He even says he had heard a report that 1m of them might come in to Tibet once the Olympic games are over.

Such remarks suggest the enormous gulf between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government and the difficulty he and his aides face in separating truth from rumour. Just as there is scant proof that the “Dalai clique” is actively engaged in fomenting unrest, as Chinese leaders claim, so there is little evidence that China is actively seeking to change the ethnic mix of Tibet. Migrants from elsewhere in China, mainly neighbouring Sichuan, are indeed flocking to the region. But this is part of a nationwide flow of tens of millions of job-seeking migrants into the richer cities of China that has occurred since the 1980s. Tibet’s problem is the pace of this influx. No official figures are published. But it appears to have accelerated rapidly in recent years thanks to a rapid growth in tourism, which has received a big boost from the railway.

Sporadic discussions between Chinese officials and the Dalai Lama’s advisers over nearly three decades have achieved nothing. China has not allowed the Dalai Lama’s delegates to visit Tibet itself since 1980, following three trips there during which Chinese officials were embarrassed by emotional displays of public support for the Dalai Lama’s team. The last trip they made to any part of the Tibetan plateau was a visit to Qinghai in 1985. Deng Xiaoping, then China’s paramount leader, met a representative of the Dalai Lama in 1979. But current animosities make such a high-level meeting hard to imagine today.

Chinese officials will be alarmed that unrest spread as far as Rongwo. Qinghai, home to the biggest Tibetan population outside the “autonomous region”, had long been relatively peaceful and was ruled with a lighter touch than Tibet itself. The practice is frowned upon, but some monasteries there had greater freedom to display the Dalai Lama’s portrait.

Even now, amid a plateau-wide campaign of “patriotic education” in monasteries during which monks in some places are being asked by officials to denounce the Dalai Lama, two portraits of him were on display at Kumbum, a monastery close to Qinghai’s capital, Xining. Yet official tolerance of such infractions in recent years has not appeared to make Qinghai’s Tibetans any more loyal to the party than those in more tightly controlled Tibet.

Curbing official vitriol directed at the Dalai Lama would certainly please Tibetans. But addressing their economic grievances, such as Han domination of Lhasa’s shops and taxi services, would help a lot too. The officials who decided to stand back during Lhasa’s riots may well have gambled—correctly as it turned out—that the violence would be directed mainly at businesses run by Hans and Huis (members of a Muslim minority) rather than at symbols of party power.

The crackdown has been less astute. Officials have depicted the riots as politically inspired, and have ignored the underlying ethnic and economic grievances, which are rekindling pro-independence sentiment. Hardly any political slogans were uttered during the unrest on March 14th. But as the riots started outside the Ramoche temple, a Tibetan writer said she heard that a citizen, startled and delighted by the authorities’ failure to intervene, shouted “Tibet is independent!” Few would dare even to whisper that openly now. But many Tibetans still cherish the dream.

The views expressed in this piece are that of the author and the publication of the piece on this website does not necessarily reflect their endorsement by the website.

phayul.com

China jails 42 over Tibet unrest, others on trial: state media

2008-07-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

BEIJING — China has jailed 42 people for their roles in this year's unrest in Tibet, with more than 100 others still on trial who may face the death penalty, state press reported on Friday.

Twelve people were jailed for unspecified periods of time on June 19 and 20, adding to the 30 people who were sentenced the previous month and whose cases had already been reported, Xinhua news agency said, citing a Tibetan leader.

No-one had yet been given the death penalty but those still on trial may be, the executive vice chairman of Tibet, Palma Trily, was cited as saying.

"It would be decided under Chinese laws whether some would be sentenced to death," he said.

The total number of people currently on trial is 116, he said.

Those jailed or on trial have been charged for their roles in riots in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, on March 14, Xinhua reported. Their crimes include arson, robbery and assaulting government offices, according to Xinhua.

Peaceful protests that began on March 10 in Lhasa to mark the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against China's rule of Tibet escalated into widespread violence across the city on March 14.

China says 18 "innocent civilians" and one policeman were killed in the riots.

China sent a massive security force into Tibet and closed the Himalayan region off to foreigners, but it has insisted it acted with restraint in quelling the unrest.

However, Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people were killed in the Chinese crackdown on the unrest, which spread to other parts of western China that have Tibetan populations.

The 30 people jailed in April were sentenced for between three years and life.

However, human rights groups said they were not given a fair trial, and the US government expressed concern over their cases.

"Guilty or innocent, these Tibetans are entitled to a fair trial," Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, said following the sentencing of the first 30.

"Instead, they were tried on secret evidence behind closed doors and without the benefit of a meaningful defence by lawyers they'd chosen."

Army cordons seal off rebel monasteries in Tibet

2008-07-15T14:37:00.000-07:00

Lhasa, Tibet (China) -- More than 1,000 Buddhist monks are still locked up under armed guard in monasteries around Lhasa, four months after anti-Chinese riots, while the authorities implement their harshest crackdown on religion in decades.

Eyewitnesses confirm that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops have sealed off Drepung, the largest monastery in Tibet. Nobody may go in or out. Photography is banned and passers-by are shooed away.

A camp of olive-green tents and two rings of roadblocks surround this sanctuary of meditation. Local people say the monks pay the army for food to be sent to them.

Drepung was singled out for punishment and “re-education” because Chinese security forces identified many of its monks on video recordings of the protests against Beijing’s policies in Tibet.

The Nechung monastery, about a mile south, was also sealed off. Tibetans said its monks were known for their fidelity to the Dalai Lama.

Although pictures of him are banned, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism still exercises an uncanny grip on his people that half a century of Chinese propaganda has failed to break.

Modern Chinese rhetoric omits to say that the Dalai Lama, then a very young man, did his best to co-operate with China when its troops entered Tibet in 1950. He fled to India in 1959 after communist policies set off an uprising among the Tibetans.

The Dalai Lama himself has always condemned violence. He says he does not want independence but genuine cultural and religious autonomy within China. The Chinese say they do not believe him.

That is why control over the religious life of Tibet is crucial to Chinese rule.

Drepung may be a fortress of resistance but across Lhasa the picture varies. Some monasteries have complied with Chinese officials and installed party-controlled committees, allowing them to pursue their Buddhist studies in troubled silence.

One pleasing result for the authorities can be found at the Sera monastery in north Lhasa, whose 500 monks did not join the protests and have collaborated in the formation of an “administrative committee” to supervise them.

“We now study the Chinese constitution, the law against separatism, the law against demonstrations, the criminal law and other documents requiring us to love the motherland, love the government, support stability and understand the real intentions of the Dalai Lama,” said a monk named Chamba.

Tibet was reopened to foreign tourists on June 25. Compared with foreign diplomats and journalists, who have been admitted only on short, tightly controlled tours, tourists have been able to circulate with relative ease.

Accounts from travellers paint a picture of frightened Chinese residents protected by bored soldiers, while Tibetans are divided between government employees loyal to China and a majority of sullen, resentful people.

Economic growth, fast and furious under Chinese stewardship, has deepened some of the divisions. Most taxis are driven by Han Chinese; most rickshaws are pedalled by Tibetans.

Superficially, coercion appears to be working. On the road to Lhasa from the airport, every Tibetan farmhouse flies the red and gold Chinese flag. Sentries are posted on bridges and outside official buildings.

On every street corner in the city centre, a soldier stands watch. Most temples and monasteries are under 24-hour surveillance.

“I began to realise that Tibetans hate the Han [Chinese] from their bones and their hearts,” said a shopkeeper who migrated to Lhasa from Shanxi province in central China. “They are a very strange nation. They do not care about material things but only about the spirit.”

buddhistchannel.tv

Two months’ ultim atum issued to the Tibetan Communist Party members and g overnment employees to recall their children studying in exile schools

2008-07-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

13 ethnic Tibetan Party members expelled in Lhasa

Following a series of protests by Tibetans across Tibet since 10 March 2008, the Chinese authorities have embarked on numerous premeditated measures and steps to tighten control over the Tibetan people. The latest targets are identified as ethnic Tibetan Communist Party members and the government employees.

A new official regulation jointly prepared by the "Tibet Autonomous Region" ("TAR") Communist Party's Discipline Inspection Commission (Ch: Jie Wei) and "TAR" Government Discipline Committee (Ch: Jian cha ting) was officially announced yesterday, targeting Tibetan party members and government employees whose children are studying in the exiled educational institutions run by the "Dalai Clique", according to the latest information posted on the official website. (www.chinatibetnews.com). The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is very concerned that the implementation of this regulation will soon lead to expulsion of Tibetan employees and members who fail to comply and abrupt termination of children's education of those who return to Tibet.

The new official regulation jointly issued by the "TAR" Communist Party Discipline Inspection Commission and "TAR" Government Discipline Committee has warned their Tibetan party members and government employees of dire consequences and will act according to the Party rules and policies, if they fail to recall their children studying in exile educational institutions run by the "Dalai Clique".

Though a new regulation was formulated tentatively and soon to be officially promulgated and implemented in the mid of September this year, has primarily targeted Tibetan government employees and party members.

The announcement of the new regulation made yesterday clearly stated that, the "Dalai Clique has over the years cited free scholarship, boarding and food facilities to the young children in order to entice them to leave Tibet for schools and monasteries in exile. The young who are the future seeds were targeted by the Dalai clique by enticing with facilities in the exile schools and monasteries in order to challenge the party and the government."

The official announcement cited the reason for the formulation of a new regulation as to maintain stability and to oppose the 'splittist' forces within the Party members and "TAR" government employees. The new regulation, stated as "political regulation", has categorically mentioned that the Party members and government employees are not allowed to send their children to educational institutions in exile. The new regulation further stated that the act of sending children into exile educational institutions run by the "Dalai clique" goes against the Party rules and government policies and it will act and punish those accordingly.

A two-month ultimatum was issued yesterday to the ethnic Tibetan party members and government employees to recall their children studying in exiled educational institutions run by the Dalai clique. The announcement stated that, although a new regulation has been formulated, before its promulgation "TAR" government employees and the Party members should recall their children from the exiled educational institutions run by the Dalai clique within two months' period and should voluntarily surrender and explain before the concerned government department or the Party for leniency without penalty. The regulation further stated that those who have participated in "splittist" activities should surrender voluntarily for leniency.

Unfortunately, though well-educated and professionally competent, these students and monks will fall under surveillance and lack job security because of their affiliation with Tibetan exile institutions if they decide to return to their homeland. For those families who send their children to India for an education when there are no other options, harsh repercussions can be expected.

The announcement further stated that, however, after the promulgation of the new regulation, those party members and government employees who conceal information on or fail to recall their children studying in exile educational institutions run by the Dalai Clique within the stipulated deadline shall be expelled from the Party and fired from their government job. This new regulation shall be promulgated soon and will cover all the current Party members, government employees, retired Party members and government employees.

This is not the first time that such an ultimatum was issued. In 1994 a policy was instituted demanding that parents recall their children from India lest they be demoted or expelled from their jobs, and their children lose their rights to residence permits if they did not return to Tibet within a specified time. And many parents recalled their children studying in exile schools and many ended up terminating their education.

The new regulation aims to put the Tibetan employees and members through political litmus test of their ideological loyalty to the party and the government and to eliminates those with a history of separatist activities. The timing of the new regulation raises concern about the Chinese authorities intention towards managing Tibetan employees, party members and their children.

Following the recent series of protests across the Tibetan plateau, at the beginning of April, the Chinese authorities launched a renewed "Patriotic education" campaign covering almost every section of Tibetan communities with more rigor and intensity. The campaign not only targeted the monastic institutions but also government employees, security forces, farmers, nomads, private entrepreneur, educational institutions and Party cadres. The ethnic Tibetan Party cadres and government employees in particular comes under scanner with test of individual loyalty to the party, one's stand on the separatist forces, family background and way of thinking were thoroughly judged.

On 21 April, Dorjee Tsering, Lhasa City Mayor, has told that the "Patriotic education" campaign will be a standard litmus test for the party cadres and will be set as a standard barometer for testing one's loyalty to the Party.

Under the three themes, the renewed "patriotic education" campaign aims to 'educate' the masses about 'opposing splittism', 'protecting stability' and 'backing development', by holding meetings, inviting experts to give speeches, teaching and discussing the contents of the 'patriotic education' campaign, holding denunciation session of the Dalai Lama and screening propaganda shows.

According to reports posted on the official website, China's Tibet Information Centre, dated 10 July 2008, 13 Party members under Lhasa City were expelled from the Communist Party for their involvement in the "March 14 riot" and their failure to uphold the three themes under the renewed "patriotic education" campaign.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) remains highly disturbed by the new regulation imposed on the ethnic Tibetan Party members and government employees to recall their children studying in educational institutions run by the exiled government. It is highly probable that those parents who fail to comply with the official regulation will face expulsion from their job and could possibly face arrest. TCHRD remains highly concern about those children who are studying in the exile run educational institutions. It is highly regrettable that the Chinese authorities under the new regulation has not spared the children who risked their lives crossing high Himalayas to receive free and broad based education. The Chinese authorities should immediately withdraw this new regulation and respect the ethnic Tibetan government employees and party members rights.

tchrd

Tibetans severely beaten and detained for staging peaceful demonstrations

2008-07-10T14:59:00.002-07:00

Demonstrations in Kardze County

A group of local Tibetans were severely beaten and then detained by the Chinese security forces for staging peaceful demonstrations in Kardze County, Kardze "Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture" ("TAP"), Sichuan, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD)

On 21 June 2008, a Tibetan youth named Dragu of Khashul Village, Dado Township, Kardze County, Kardze "TAP", was detained by the People's Armed Police (PAP) as he had entered into the main market of the County calling for a free Tibet until his protest was overtaken by 7 local PAP officers. He was seen sporting a white band tied around his head with the words "Bod Rangzen" (Free Tibet) written on it and with Tibetan flags painted on both of his cheeks.

On 22 June 2008, around 11:00 AM (Beijing Standard Time) 24-year-old monk Tsering Phuntsok and 36- year-old monk Tashi Sherab both of Khangmar Monastery in Kardze County, Sichuan, staged a peaceful demonstration in the County.

In the afternoon around 1:00 PM of the same day, a 37 year-old monk named Sergha and 27 year-old monk, Yeshi Dargye, also of Khangmar Monastery further staged protest by distributing pamphlets and calling for a free Tibet, and praying for the long life of the Dalai Lama and the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet.

On the same day around 2 - 3 PM local time, another demonstration consisting of more than 10 local Tibetans erupted in the same County which was led by an unidentified layman of Shillidha Village.

All the peaceful protesters whilst being brutally beaten were arrested by the Chinese armed forces.

tchrd

Tibetan monasteries empty as China jails monks to silence Olympic protests

2008-07-10T14:59:00.001-07:00

Chinese authorities tightened security around Tibet's main monasteries and banned visits to a sacred site on the edge of the capital, Lhasa, for fear of a fresh outburst of unrest on the Dalai Lama's birthday.

Few monks remain, however, in the province's three most important monasteries. Many have disappeared, their whereabouts a mystery. Chinese officials have deployed troops and paramilitary police around the ancient religious institutions, suspecting these sprawling hillside communities are at the heart of the unrest that has swept the region since early March.

Dozens, possibly several hundred, have been arrested or are detained and under investigation for their roles in the anti-Chinese demonstrations and riots that hit Lhasa on March 14. This, however, does not account for the empty halls in the three great monasteries, Drepung, Sera and Ganden, that lie near the city. Several hundred monks are believed to have been living in each of them before the violence erupted.

Now Tibetan sources have revealed that most of the monks, more than 1,000 in total, have been transferred to many prisons and detention centres in and around the city of Golmud in neighbouring Qinghai province. The detained monks are all young ethnic Tibetans from surrounding regions who had made their way to Lhasa, their spiritual capital, to study and pray in the most prestigious spiritual centres on the Roof of the World.

Their detention is part of a policy to rid the monasteries of any monks not registered as formal residents of the administrative region, known as the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Family members say that the monks have been told they will be incarcerated in Golmud only until the end of the Olympic Games in Beijing. The policy is part of a campaign by the Chinese Government to ensure that the Games, opening on August 8 and lasting for two weeks, pass off without a hitch and without protests from the restive Tibetans, they told The Times.

“After that they have been told that they will be allowed to leave, because they are not guilty of a crime,” one man whose brother is among the detained said. “But they will be ordered to return to their home villages and will not be permitted to go back to the monasteries in Lhasa.” There were no reports that any of those being held were being mistreated, he added.

The monks' detention is, in effect, a decision by China to implement a policy first promulgated in 1994 to limit the size of Tibet's monasteries, because increasing religious freedoms were attracting growing numbers.

Sera monastery, for example, is supposed to house no more than 400 monks but is believed to have grown to more than 1,000. In Drepung - at its height the largest monastery in the world - has been allocated a similar quota but has allowed as many as 900 monks to live in its high-walled compounds. The monasteries have for years allowed young boys well below the age of 18 to enter in direct contravention of the rules but the authorities had turned a blind eye.

The abbots have encouraged the unofficial monks because they found that those from other regions tended to be the most devoted and diligent, Tibetan sources said.

Registered monks are given a monthly stipend that can sometimes be as much as 5,000 yuan (£350) depending on the donations to a monastery and entrance ticket sales. Many prefer to spend their days playing video games and DVDs rather than reading the scriptures, they said. They voiced concern that the monasteries could lose many of their best Buddhist scholars if the monks were not allowed to return after the Olympics.

Authorities have ordered all Tibetans without a Lhasa residence permit to leave the city and to return to their homes. Reports are increasing of the authorities targeting individuals whose dress, haircut or even teeth - Tibetans from Sichuan and Qinghai favour gold fillings - mark them out as coming from neighbouring regions.

Tibetan residents of Lhasa say that they prefer not to wear Tibetan dress for fear they will be stopped and questioned on the street by police or soldiers. Men say that they are growing their hair so as not be mistaken for a monk and interrogated.

One man, from the Khamba group that lives in western Sichuan province and is renowned for its warriors, told how he was arrested after the March 14 riot because his long hair identified him as being from that region.

The huge security operation has,however, failed to halt protests by Tibetans demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and independence for their homeland. On June 18 six took place in Ganze county alone.

One Tibetan source said: “They know they are going to be arrested but people still go out and demonstrate. And then you can see the cats come out and catch them like mice.”

Ancient traditions

Drepung monastery

The largest of Tibetan monasteries, whose name means “rice heap”. Its population numbered as many as 7,700 in the 1930s and sometimes up to 10,000. Founded in 1416, it has long been been regarded as the most academic monastery of the Gelukpa – or Yellow Hat – sect

Sera monastery

Its name means “Enclosure of Roses”. Also founded in the early 15th century. Began as a scholarly institution but became known as the home of warrior monks whose responsibility was to defend Tibet and its Buddhist traditions

Ganden monastery

The oldest of the three great monasteries, its name means “continent of completely victorious happiness”. It is 35 miles from Lhasa and has long been the smallest house. It suffered most during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, when it was dynamited by the Army and Red Guards

phayul.com

Fresh protests by Tibetans in Nepal, 179 held

2008-07-06T06:26:00.001-07:00

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Shaven headed nuns and monks in maroon robes were among 179 "free Tibet" protesters detained in the Nepali capital on Friday as they tried to storm a visa office of the Chinese embassy, police said.

The refugees were hauled into police vans and trucks after a brief scuffle with the riot police.

More than 20,000 Tibetans live in Nepal, after fleeing a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Nepal considers Tibet part of China and has briefly detained thousands of the exiled Tibetans protesting against Beijing since the deadly crackdown on protests in the region mid-March.

(Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Alistair Scrutton)

Nepal police detain 300 Tibetan protesters

2008-07-06T06:25:00.000-07:00

Authorities in Nepal's capital on Friday detained around 300 Tibetan exiles after they staged an anti-China demonstration outside a Chinese embassy building, police said.

''We rounded up some 300 protesters,'' Ramesh Thapa, a police officer at the scene said, adding that they would be freed later in the day.

The protesters, mostly women and monks, waved flags of the Tibetan government-in-exile and shouted ''We want a free Tibet'' as they marched towards the Chinese trade and consular buildings, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Three protesters managed to break the police cordon and ran towards the main gate of the building and kicked it screaming ''China liar.'' They were quickly detained by police.

Earlier this week, a group of 42 Tibetan protesters were detained close to Nepal's border with the Chinese-controlled Himalayan region as they tried to march back to their homeland.

Tibetan refugees have been protesting in Kathmandu almost every day since unrest broke out in the Himalayan region in March and was met by a tough Chinese government crackdown.

Nepal, home to around 20,000 Tibetans, officially recognises Tibet as an indisputable part of China and has banned all pro-Tibetan protests out of respect for its giant northern neighbour.

ndtv.com

Tibetans exiles protest in front of Chinese embassy visa office in Nepal

2008-07-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu, July 4 - Hundreds of Tibetans protesting Chinese control of their homeland tried to storm the Chinese Embassy visa office in the Nepalese capital on Friday, police said.

A few managed to reach the gates of the fortified complex in Katmandu but police detained them, along with about 300 other protesters who had been
held back from the gates by a line of security officers, police official Ramesh Thapa said.

Thapa said the protesters would be freed later Friday and that no one would be charged.
There was brief scuffle between the protesters and police, but no one was seriously injured, protesters said. They asked not to be named saying they were afraid of the police.
Nepal has said it cannot allow protests against any friendly nation, including China, and have ordered police to protect foreign diplomatic missions. Protests near embassies have not been tolerated.

Tibetans have been protesting in Katmandu against Chinese control of Tibet almost daily since March.

phayul.com

Bush to attend Beijing Olympics opening gala

2008-07-04T14:47:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON, July 4 — US President George W. Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, defying boycott calls from critics of China's record on human rights and in Tibet, the White House said.

Some world leaders are skipping the August 8 gala, and the two principle US presidential rivals had strongly urged Bush to at least consider not going in order to highlight concerns about religious and political freedoms in China.

But "the president and Mrs Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Summer Olympic Games on August 8" as part of a trip to China after stops in South Korea and Thailand, Bush spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement Thursday.

The decision was expected to anger human rights activists and critics of a mid-March Chinese crackdown in Tibet, including many in the president's Republican party who regularly target Beijing over alleged abuses.

And both major presumptive White House rivals -- Bush's fellow Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -- have urged the president to consider shunning the gala if China's record does not improve.

Bush had always said he would go to the Olympics -- seen as a symbolic "coming-out" party for China as a major world power -- to encourage US athletes and rejected calls to use the competition for diplomatic leverage.

"It says I'm supporting our athletes is what it says. And I don't view the Olympics as a political event. I view it as a sporting event," he told ABC television in an April interview.

"And, you know, I have brought up religious freedom and Darfur and Burma and the Dalai Lama before the Olympics, during the Olympics, and after the Olympics I'll bring it up," said Bush.

His stop in China will come as part of what may be his farewell trip to Asia, with stops in South Korea and Thailand, though the White House has yet to announce the dates for his departure from Washington or his return.

The White House had said earlier this week that Bush would be in South Korea August 5 and 6, but Perino later retracted that announcement as "premature" but "not inaccurate" while offering a "little bit of an apology" to Seoul.

In South Korea, Bush and his counterpart Lee Myung-Bak will discuss efforts to get their respective legislatures to ratify the US-South Korea free trade pact, amid violent protests in South Korea against a deal to resume US beef imports, said Perino.

In Thailand, Bush will "celebrate 175 years of the US-Thailand relationship" and discuss regional and bilateral issues with Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, she said.

In China, Bush will meet with President Hu Jintao and other top officials to discuss key issues including progress towards stripping North Korea of its nuclear programs, said Perino.

The US president heads to Japan Saturday for a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations as well as bilateral talks with leaders of Japan, Russia, Germany, India, China, and South Korea.

Perino said earlier that Bush was "pleased" that Beijing was holding talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader, but stressed that his attendance at the opening ceremonies did not depend on the outcome.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has linked his attendance to progress in a second round of talks between China and the Dalai Lama over the situation in Tibet.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says 203 Tibetans have been killed and about 1,000 injured in the Chinese crackdown. China denies this, saying Tibetan "rioters" and "insurgents" killed 21 people.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is not going to the ceremonies, while British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is also not attending, although his office insists he never intended to.

The ceremonies are due to be held in the 80,000-seat National Stadium in Beijing -- nicknamed the Bird's Nest because of the intricate lattice work on its outer shell.

phayul

"At least 24 journalists and cyber-dissidents arrested or sentenced since January"

2008-07-02T15:23:00.001-07:00

Reporters Without Borders has recorded 24 cases of journalists, cyber-dissidents or free expression activists being arrested or sentenced to jail terms since the start of the year. At the same time, at least 80 foreign journalists have been obstructed in the course of their work, above all in the Tibetan regions and in Sichuan.
"Where is the opening so often promised by the organisers of the Beijing Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee?" the press freedom organisation asked. "Instead of an opening, these games are being used, more than ever, as a pretext to arrest, harass and censor. This situation is unacceptable and reflects the IOC’s inability to guarantee a favourable environment for the games in accordance with the Olympic Charter."

Last year ended badly with the arrest of leading activist Hu Jia in late December, and the start of this year was marked by his sentence to three and a half years in prison. But at least 23 other journalists, online writers and free speech activists have been arrested or sentenced to prison terms.

The authorities have made some concessions, such as the release of Ching Cheong and Yu Huafeng, but they have taken no account of the fact that the health of Zhang Jianhong, a writer better known as Li Hong, and Yang Maodong, a writer better known Guo Feixiong, has deteriorated in prison.

The terrible earthquake in Sichuan has not helped to reduce the repression either. Journalist Qi Chonghuai was sentenced to four years in prison the day after the quake. And Huang Qi, a well-known activist who has a human rights website, was arrested on 10 June for reporting the arrest of a person who had been writing accounts of the quake and its aftermath.

The harassment of activists who talk to the foreign news media or write articles for overseas Chinese media has also been stepped up. This campaign is being orchestrated by the public security and state security departments in order to intimidate human rights activists who might try to speak out before or during the games.

Reporters Without Borders’ chief demand, as regards the Beijing Olympics, has always been the release of imprisoned journalists, cyber-dissidents and free expression activists before the start of the games.

thetibetpost

China Orders arrest of 36 Tibetans

2008-07-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

An order issued by the prefectural Public Security Bureau of Karze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture (TAP) dated May 7, 2008 pronounced the arrest of 36 Tibetans listed by their names, sex, residential address, residential registration card no., physical description and photographs.

The edict announces among other things that, "Tsering Nemay and other Tibetans enlisted in this order are suspects of certain crime. All the enlisted 36 Tibetans are on the run. All concerned local Public Security Bureaus are directed to immediately detain the suspects from the day of receipt of this arrest order. Anyone providing leads and information, and those involved in the arrest of the suspects, whether individual citizen or office, shall be appropriately rewarded for their good work".

Among the enlisted Tibetans, the youngest one is 22 years old Chodak from Trehor township under Drakgo (Ch: Luhuo) county while the oldest is a 62 years old Tashi from Gyashoe village under Serta (Ch: Seda) county. Six among the listed 36 Tibetans are women. No additional information is yet known about how many of them have been arrested. Following are the names of all the 36 Tibetans ordered to be arrested by the Public Security Bureau (PSB):

1) Tsering Nemay, 25 yrs. Lhopa township, Karze county, 2) Shao Men Men, 43 yrs. female, No. 8 section, Karze town. 3) Gonpo Wangchuk, around 40 yrs. Nyagzam township, Karze town. 4) Tsetan Phuntsok (monk) 38 yrs, Rongpatsa township, Karze county, 5) Rigzin Karma, 22 yrs, Tsogo township, Drakgo county, 6) Chodak, 22 yrs., Trehor township, Drakgo county, 7) Rigzin, Trehor township, Drakgo county, 8) Tseyang alias Yangtso, female, 36 yrs., Tsogo township, Drakgo county, 9) Tenthup, 53 yrs., Nyitoe township, Serta county, 10) Sherten, 30 yrs., Ragtsong township, Serta county, 11) Adron, female, 36 yrs., Taktse township, Serta county, 12) Choeden Kyab, 35 yrs., Choktsang township, Serta county, 13) Soepa, 52 yrs., Yalung township, Serta county, 14) Kyare, female, 30 yrs., Wuda township, Serta county, 15) Woepe, 42 yrs, Serta county, 16) Nyipo, Serkhog township, Serta county, 17) Solo, 40 yrs., Taktse township, Serta county, 18) Tsultim Wangpo, 38 yrs, Taktse township, Serta county, 19) Konchok, 48 yrs, Taktse township, Serta county, 20) Tsekyi, 40 yrs, Choktsang township, Serta county, 21) Sonam Dorje, 25, Yango township, Serta county 22) Lobsang Jamyang alias Lojam, 26 yrs., Serkhog township, Serta county, 23) Sherdrak, 39 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 24) Thupga, 30 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 25) Lodoe alias Ngozum Takdong, 36 yrs, Ragtsong township, Serta county, 26) Tade, female, 55 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 27) Topdo, 38 yrs, Ragtsong township, Serta county, 28) Nyisher, 27 yrs, Samshulthang village, Serta county, 29) Dade, 43 yrs, Nyitoe township, Serta county, 30) Phundo, 51 yrs, Kheokor township, Serta county, 31) Nyima, 40 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 32) Jamyang, 42, Nyitoe township, Serta county, 33) Woetso, 28 yrs, Khamleg township, Serta county, 34) Choetso, female, 53 yrs, Serta county, 35) Tashi, 62, Gyashoe village, Serta county, and 36) Kelsang (butter seller), 31 yrs, Serta county.

Report:-Tibetan Solidarity Committee
secrettibet

Four monks arrested from Tarmo monastery

2008-07-02T15:10:00.000-07:00

Chinese authorities have on June 18 arrested four monks of Tarmo monastery in Driru (Ch: Biru) county, Nagchu (Nagu) prefecture while they were on their way to Lhasa for some works related to the monastery, according to a confirmed report. The arrested are abbot or the President of the Democratic Management Committee of the monastery Ngawang Gyalten (42) and his administrative colleagues, Ngawang Jampa (around 40), Ngawang Sangye (38) and Kalsang Lochok (20).

In late March, the Chinese authorities in TAR launched an extensive campaign of patriotic reeducation in almost all Tibetan areas including Sok(Ch: Suo) county, Drachen (Ch: Baqeng) county and Driru (Ch: Biru) county that saw mobilization of armed forces to oversee the repressive measure. During this campaign, Tarmo monastery also received a contingent of work team asking the monks to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama. The Abbot and the President of the Democratic Committee of the monastery, Ngawang Gyatlen had then resisted the campaign by insisting that, as a Buddhist it was ethically unjustifiable for the monks to condemn their root guru. He also demanded from the authorities to invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama back to Tibet. The abbot was then joined by all the monks of the monastery compelling the work team to return but with a stern warning that the fate of the monastery would be decided later in the month of July when another contingent of work team arrives. The arrest is most probably related to the above incident.

The authorities alleged that these monks had embarked on the journey [to Lhasa] in violation of the monastery's regulation without taking proper leave, but their arrest have already been planned due to the above incident and the reason cited by the authorities are just an excuse, sources have added. It is yet not known where these four monks are being held.

In view of the ongoing critical situation inside Tibet, we urge the United Nations and the International community and organizations to the following urgent needs:

To immediately send an independent international fact-finding mission into Tibet
To exert pressure on the PRC government to allow unfettered access to free press in whole of Tibet
To pressure the PRC to end the brutal killings in the whole of Tibet
To immediately release all the arrested and imprisoned Tibetans
To extend immediate medical assistance to those injured Tibetans
To allow free movement of people and provide access to daily needs
- Tibetan Solidarity Committee

secrettibet.rsfblog

Tibetan Film exposing Chinese Propaganda launched today

2008-07-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

Dharamshala: A documentary film compiled by the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration unmasks the series of Chinese government's fabrication of the recent peaceful demonstrations in Tibet and baseless allegations leveled against His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche launched the documentary film yesterday during its premiere at Gangkyi Staff Mess. It was screened to an exclusive audience of officials of the Central Tibetan Administration.

Dr Ngawang Rabgyal, additional secretary of the Department of Information and International Relations, gave a brief introduction on the objectives of launching the documentary.
The documentary, "Peaceful Protests on the World's Roof: A Display of the Tibetan People's Incomparable Courage", reveals the reason behind Chinese government's lie about the so-called Lhasa Incident of 14 March. It detailed eyewitness accounts of the events and footages taken by various news agencies.

It documented the Chinese armed forces' violent clampdown on the peaceful Tibetan demonstrators, which left hundreds of innocent Tibetans dead, thousands arrested and injured.

Footages showing an upsurge of peaceful demonstrations across the three traditional provinces of Tibet expose the Chinese authorities' false projection of the event as '3.14 unrest caused by a handful of Tibetans'.

Monks weeping because of religious persecution and calling for return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet reinforce the fact of denial of religious freedom to Tibetans by the Chinese government.

tibetcustom

China human rights deterioration leads to US Olympic Boycott Call

2008-07-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

Top US legislators Republican Reps. Frank R. Wolf of Virginia and Christopher H. Smith of New Jersey have called for President George Bush to skip the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

The two congressional members had bee due to meet with Chinese Human Rights activists, however Communist officials impisoned, threatened & barred the activists from attending the meeting, which led the congressmen to speak out about the situation in China.

Congessman Christopher Smith said in Beijing "A meeting we had scheduled for Sunday night with three human rights lawyers never occurred as the three lawyers were threatened and either taken away or placed under house arrest by the police," He went on to say "Similarly, after we met with senior house church pastor, Zhang Mingxuan, he too was placed under house arrest."

China rolled out it's usuall excuses in these cases, such as "the meeting was incompatible with the congressman's vist" etc, despite China vowing to open up before the Olympics it has gone into reverse gear and the attempt to crush all dissent before the Olympics is in full swing.

Recently visa restrictions imposed by China have led to a fall in the number of visitors to China, a fall some estimate to be 50% from visitor levels this time last year. Hotels built by people expecting a rush of visitors to the Olympics are empty, business persons cannot get access to China to complete business deals and it is not certain that things will change before the Olympics. So paranoid have the Communist leadership become that they run the real risk of throwing a party (the Olympics) and then not letting anyone actually get inthe dorr in case the carpets are ruined.

Meanwhile for anyone who does not tow the party line life is getting much harder in China.

President Sarkosy of France has stated that he may not attend and will consider Chinese actions in Tibet pending his possible non attendance, Angela Merkle of Germany will not attend for the same reasons, other European and Canadian leaders are also considering non attendance.

Things are so tight in China that ordinary people may not have a choice to attend or not as Visa restrictions become tighter not losser as the games approach.

tibetcustom

Dalai Lama's time bomb

2008-07-02T15:05:00.000-07:00

It takes a particular form of confidence to sit across a negotiating table, armed only with moral courage and wearing religious robes, facing representatives of one of the world's biggest armies and one of the five official nuclear powers in the world. That's just what is happening this week, as representatives of the Dalai Lama -- whom the Chinese continue to call "the splittist monk," or, as in an official commentary in the New China News Agency yesterday, "a flunky" – went to Beijing, ignoring the insults and instead praising reports that nearly 1,000 Tibetans have been released from Chinese jails.

The Dalai Lama has not had it easy. This is the year of the Olympics in Beijing, which many supporters of China would like to take place unchallenged. The run of the Olympic torch earlier this summer was marred by protests in Western capitals that pitted pro-Tibet activists, some of whom are resisting the Dalai Lama's nonviolent convictions, against fiercely nationalist Chinese students and residents. The Dalai Lama found that government officials in several Western countries historically sympathetic to the Tibetan cause were curiously unavailable this year; even in Germany, where Chancellor Angela Merkel has been vocal in condemning China's human rights record, this year the Dalai Lama could only meet junior officials.

At one level, the struggle for Tibet's autonomy has become symbolic: Tibetan independence appears impossible, and while awareness about the cause has risen, nobody wants to do anything about it for fear of offending China. Meanwhile, writing in the New York Times last month, Nicholas Kristoff mentions two Tibetan monks, released recently from Chinese prisons, where they have been beaten. Their patience is wearing thin. Till when can we continue to remain nonviolent, they ask Kristoff.

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Those monks are not alone. Younger Tibetans are increasingly frustrated, as they can't see any light at the end of the tunnel. Jamyang Norbu, an acclaimed Tibetan writer in exile, believes the Dalai Lama's approach is too conciliatory; the cause, he says, has now been fossilized in its own myths.

Keeping the idea of Tibet alive is a formidable challenge. First, there is the rise of China. Second, the perceived strategic insignificance of Tibet. And third, what Tibetan activists call China's cultural genocide in Tibet, as Han Chinese are making Tibetans a minority in their own land. Since the Chinese influx, Tibetan culture has been desecrated by the opening of karaoke bars and brothels near monasteries and the building of in-your-face retail centers opposite the Potala Palace. Many Tibetans have grown up with only a dim recollection of the Dalai Lama and a limited awareness of their faith and traditions.

During the recent uprisings, some Tibetan activists have turned violent in the face of Chinese provocation. Has nonviolence had its day?

It would be a great tragedy if the Tibetan movement were to cast aside its nonviolent activism, passive resistance, or civil disobedience because violence seems more expedient. The pursuit of nonviolence gives the Tibetan movement its moral appeal. And there is no reason to believe that a violent uprising will succeed. If Tibetans turn violent, they will have given up their moral appeal. Violence, after all, has not given Palestinians the freedom they have sought, either.

Indeed, of all the world leaders in major struggles of national identity today, the Dalai Lama comes closest to following the model associated with Gandhi, who was assassinated 60 years ago this year. The key difference between them is that Gandhi fought a colonial power, Britain, which was democratic at home. Tibet's oppressors aren't. Does this mean nonviolence has only limited appeal and that it can work only in certain contexts?

At one level, the Indian struggle does seem like an exception. Gandhi used his training as a barrister from London to argue to the British that their rule was unjust and illegal. And the British agreed and left. But it was never that simple: Gandhi's struggle lasted a full three decades, and during that period, the British often responded with force, and at other times with cunning, subterfuge, and divisive politics. They left in 1947 when they found that sustaining the empire was no longer possible economically, politically, or morally.

And the Dalai Lama's struggle is not the only such: Even after the Prague Spring faded, the playwright Vaclav Havel insisted that he'd live the truth, not lies that the Soviet-backed Czechoslovak government imposed. Like Gandhi, Havel was jailed, but he never gave up. His patience and stubbornness were rewarded: Two decades later, Havel became the Czech Republic's president. Democracies, even flawed ones, understand this moral force: That's why Israel expelled the nonviolent activist Mubarak Awad in the 1980s; now, Sari Nusseibeh is giving Gandhian tactics another chance in the Middle East.

Violence always appears more expedient in the short run. But the whole point of nonviolence is the choice of certain means over others to attain particular ends. In February 1922, Indian activists were marching through a small town called Chauri Chaura in northern India, ostensibly part of Satyagraha, the nonviolent movement Gandhi founded. They ran into a group of policemen. The activists shouted slogans; the police beat them up. Just then, a larger group of activists arrived and chased the policemen, who ran to the local police station. The activists locked the police station from outside and burned the building, killing over 20 policemen.

It was an isolated incident, and Gandhi could have viewed it as such. But he termed the incident "a divine warning" and decided that tempers had to cool. He would not surrender the moral authority he sought to base, violent instincts; Gandhi knew what violence begat: more violence. In one of the more memorable statements attributed to him, Gandhi said: "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." Against the advice of his senior allies, he suspended the movement.

That's the answer to what the Dalai Lama should do if the Tibetan uprising turns violent – suspend the movement. He can do so, because his sense of "time" differs from that of leaders in business and politics. Corporations think of the next quarter. Politicians in a democratic society think of the next election. Communists think a generation ahead. But in the Dalai Lama they have a unique rival. If he has to, he is prepared to wait for his next incarnation in order not to surrender his moral authority.

Can the suffering of his followers wait that long, though? Some are losing patience; some want freedom in this world, not from the world. Can the Dalai Lama keep them calm even as he tries to shame the Chinese into doing the right thing?

Overwhelming evidence seems to suggest not. This week's talks are unlikely to yield much, if any, progress, and could push more Tibetans to the boiling point. But listen to Gandhi again: "When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, always.

phayul.com

Marchers arrested near Tibet-Nepal border

2008-07-02T15:03:00.002-07:00

New Delhi, July 1 - The forty two Tibetan marchers who left Kathmandu in the wee hours of the morning six days ago have been apprehended by Nepalese police officials some seven kilometers from Dram.

The peace marchers had shed their cover of mountainous trails and jungle routes by walking in the open on the main road leading towards the Tibet-Nepal border earlier today. This made them vulnerable to possible police blockade. After walking on the highway for some four kilometers their path was blocked by the police who insisted they retreat. With the border well within reach the peace hikers/walkers were forced to end their march to Tibet.

Though pro-Tibet rallies have taken the world by storm after the March unrest with Nepal in the lead given its close proximity to China, this is the first protest of its kind in the region where Tibetan refugees have attempted to take the same route to Tibet which many of them have once tread to escape a brutal regime.

Talking to Phayul on the phone from the Barabesi check post where they are currently held, core marcher Jamyang Tenzin said, "We were about seven kilometers from Dram when some 30-40 Nepalese police officials blocked our way and detained us. We are being taken back to Kathmandu and the officers have not disclosed what will become of us once in the Capital or whether we will be charged with any offence. The officers did not use any physical force or treat us violently this time around."

In what could be termed as a continuing chapter in their peaceful resistance against China, a small group of nine Tibetans left Kathmandu on their mission to Tibet on June 27. The second group comprising of one monk, a twenty year old girl and others left the Nepalese Capital at 04:00 am that day and traveled 200 kilometers by vehicle to avoid police opposition in and around Kathmandu. They have since covered 90 kilometers on foot and are traversing through the hilly and steep tracks which their predecessors navigated not many days ago. They choose to remain tight lipped about their location and the Tibet-Nepal border which they intend to cross over into in the coming days.

Kelsang Tashi from the second group says, "Given the harsh physical conditions of the climb and the rocky path which some of us are not used to, we anticipate to reach the border in the next ten days. Unlike other marches, we have to carry our own luggage and sleeping bags among other utilities. The extra effort clubbed with severe challenges presented before us during the course of the walk slow us down but we remain adamant nonetheless and will strive to succeed in our endeavor."

Tibetans across the world aim to protest peacefully until peace is restored in Tibet and a resolution is put across through significant talks between envoys of the Dalai Lama and China. The seventh round of official dialogue between the two parties began today in Beijing.

Updated: The arrested marchers were transfered to Mahendra police club in Katmandu from where they were released later in the evening.

phayul.com

Tibetan exiles pressure China as talks begin

2008-07-02T15:03:00.001-07:00

BEIJING — Tibet's government in exile said Tuesday the onus was on China to make progress in talks in Beijing aimed at easing tensions following deadly unrest that overshadowed the nation's Olympic build-up.

The decision by China to hold talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama had been widely seen as a response to international condemnation of its crackdown on the unrest in Tibet in March that embarrassed Beijing ahead of the August Olympics.

The two-days of meetings were expected to have begun on Tuesday in the Chinese capital, according to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

"The ball is really in their court," Kesang Yangkyi Takla, the foreign minister of the government in exile located in the Indian hill station of Dharamsala, told a news conference in Tokyo.

She said that China had offered little in the previous rounds of talks that began in 2002.

"I think the world community expects that there should be some sort of positive response this time."
But China, without confirming the talks had begun, on Tuesday placed the onus firmly on the Dalai Lama's side for any progress.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters that the Dalai Lama's side must implement the three "stops" -- a Chinese political shorthand for stopping separatist activities, sabotaging the Olympics and violence.

Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, of fomenting unrest in the Himalayan region that erupted on March 14 after four days of peaceful protests against 57 years of Chinese rule.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says 203 Tibetans were killed and about 1,000 hurt in China's crackdown.

China insists that only one Tibetan was killed, saying it acted with restraint to quell the "rioters" and "insurgents". It has in turn accused the "rioters" of killing 21 people.

The crackdown on the unrest, which spread to neighbouring Tibetan-populated areas of western China, sparked global protests that marred the international month-long international journey of the Olympic torch.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was particularly vocal in speaking out about the crackdown, said on Monday his decision on whether to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympics hinged on progress in the talks.

The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, on Tuesday said he hoped the talks would be successful, shortly before beginning a three-day trip to China.

"I sincerely hope that the dialogue initiated by Chinese authorities... will continue and bear fruit," he said in Tokyo before flying to Beijing.

China has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of seeking independence for his homeland.

But he says he opposes Tibetan independence, although he continues to look for "real and meaningful autonomy" for the region. He has also accused Beijing of widespread human rights violations of his people.

Takla on Tuesday again said that Tibetans were enduring suffering under Chinese rule.

"I think it would be in the interest of China as well as us the Tibetan people that this time they would prove that they are more sensitive to the sufferings of other people," she said.

"Let's be honest about this -- the question of what is happening in Tibet is on the conscience of the world community."

Tuesday's talks come after an informal round of discussions was held on May 4 in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen following global pressure to restart dialogue after the unrest.

China has adopted similar practices in the past, refusing to confirm the talks had occurred until after they had finished.

phayul.com

International community expresses concern over detention of Tibetan refugees

2008-06-27T15:48:00.002-07:00

Kathmandu, June 27 - The international community has expressed strong concerns over the repeated arrests and detention of the Tibetan refugees who have been demonstrating in Kathmandu for the last few months.

In a joint statement issued by diplomatic missions in Nepal of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, the United States and France, on behalf of the EU, acting as its local President, said, "We would like to express our strong concern regarding the government of Nepal's recent detention without charge of three members of the Tibetan community in Nepal: Kalsang Chung, Ngawang Sangmo, and Tashi Dolma.

"We note that none of the three participated in violent actions and that Kalsang Chung is not known to have participated in any protests at all," they said calling for their immediate release.

They further said they wee very concerned about the ongoing harsh treatment of peaceful protesters during arrest by the Nepali police.

"We understand and respect Nepal's national security concerns and, certainly, the importance of protecting diplomatic premises. We urge you, however, to ensure the humane treatment of peaceful protesters," the statement reads.

The use of preventive detention under the Public Security Act (PSA) also raises concern in relation to Nepal's obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) not to engage in arbitrary detention.

They have urged Nepal to adhere to international human rights standards as Nepal continues on its path as a democratic nation.

phayul.com

Nepalese police break up Tibetan protest, detain 50

2008-06-27T15:48:00.001-07:00

Kathmandu, June 27 - Nepalese police detained about 50 Tibetan exiles who were protesting Friday against China's crackdown in their homeland, a day after the United States raised concerns about Nepal's treatment of Tibetan demonstrators.

The group of Tibetan exiles, including many monks and nuns, had gathered in front of the Chinese Embassy's visa office in the heart of Katmandu and were chanting anti-China slogans.

They were stopped by police and quickly put in vans and trucks and driven to detention centers.

Police official Ramesh Thapa said about 50 Tibetans were detained but were likely to be freed later in the day.

The State Department issued a statement Thursday saying the U.S. was concerned about Nepal's treatment of Tibetan activists protesting against China's crackdown in their homeland.

"The ongoing harsh treatment of peaceful protesters during their arrests by the Nepali police is distressing," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in the statement.
It urged Nepal to ensure the humane treatment of peaceful protesters and adhere to its international human rights obligations.

Nepal has been criticized by human rights groups for its handling of the Tibetan protests, which have occurred almost daily since March.

Nepalese police initially used batons to beat protesters. However, after criticism and pressure from rights groups, police stopped using force but have continued to detain demonstrators.

Nepalese officials say protests against friendly nations, including China, will not be allowed and Tibetan refugees are barred from all political activities.

China says 22 people died in anti-government violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in March, while foreign Tibet supporters say many times that number were killed in the protests and a subsequent crackdown.

phayul

Sarkozy urged to adopt boycott of opening ceremony at meeting with heads of EP groups

2008-06-26T15:31:00.000-07:00

{The Tibet Post International - Wednesday, 25 June 2008}
Call for opening ceremony boycott already signed by 53 MEPs. Reporters Without Borders calls on France and its European partners to come out in favour of a boycott of the 8 August Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing when French President Nicolas Sarkozy meets tomorrow with European Parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering and the presidents of all the political groups in the parliament.
In a 10 April resolution, the European Parliament called on the European Union presidency "to strive to find a common EU position with regard to the attendance of the heads of government and of state and the EU high representative at the Olympic Games opening ceremony, with the option of non-attendance in the event that there is no resumption of dialogue between the Chinese authorities and His Holiness the Dalai Lama."

At the initiative of Reporters Without Borders, 53 Members of the European Parliament have already given concrete expression to a European commitment by signing an appeal for a boycott of the opening ceremony by heads of state and government (see the list of initial signatories below).

"President Sarkozy clearly stated that his attendance at the opening ceremony was conditioned on a resumption of dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama's representatives," Reporters Without Borders said. "But the process has gone nowhere and when the United States and the EU recently issued a joint appeal for 'results-oriented' talks on Tibet, it was rejected by China as meddling in its internal affairs. The Chinese authorities are also barring foreign journalists from Tibet and Xinjiang while massive roundups and reeducation campaigns are under way there."

Crackdowns on Chinese cyber-dissidents and journalists have been stepped up in recent months. Hu Jia, a leading dissident who was nominated for the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize in 2007, has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison for inciting subversion.

Pöttering said in a 31 December statement : "I very much hope that "the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 will be an opportunity for China to demonstrate that a country hosting the world's most important sports event is committed to internationally recognized human rights standards including freedom of expression. The immediate release of Hu Jia would be an important signal in this direction".

With less than two months to go to the start of the Olympics, around 100 journalists, cyber-dissidents, bloggers and Internet users are still imprisoned in China. The government never kept the promises it gave in 2001, when Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics, to improve respect for human rights.

More information about the Reporters Without Borders Beijing 2008 campaign is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese at the organisation's website (www.rsf.org).

Members of the European Parliament who have signed the call for a boycott of the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Greens / European Free Alliance

FRASSONI, Monica, Co-President
HARMS, Rebecca, Vice-President (Germany)
TURMES, Claude, Vice-President (France)
FLAUTRE, Hélène, Chair of the Human Rights Subcommitte (France)
BEER, Angelika, Member (Germany)
BENNAHMIAS, Jean-Luc, Member (France)
BREYER, Hiltrud, Member (Germany)
DE GROEN-KOUWENHOVEN, Elly, Member (Netherlands)
ISLER BÉGUIN, Marie Anne, Member (France)
KALLENBACH, Gisela, Member (Germany)
KUSSTATSCHER, Sepp, Member (Italy)
LUCAS, Caroline, Member (UK)
ÖZDEMIR, Cem, Member (Germany)
ONESTA, Gérard, Member (France)
SCHLYTER, Carl, Member (Sweden)
SCHMIDT, Frithjof, Member (Germany)
STAES, Bart, Member (Belgium)
TRÜPEL, Helga, Member (Germany)

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

WALLIS, Diana, Bureau Member (UK)
MAATEN, Jules, Bureau Member (Netherlands)
ROGALSKI, Boguslaw, Member (Poland)
RIES, Frédérique, Bureau Member (Belgium)
SZENT-IVÁNYI, István, Bureau Member (Hungary)
ATTWOOLL, Elspeth, Member (UK)
BIRUTIS, Sarunas, Member (Lithuania)
WEBER, Renate, Member (Roumanie)

European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats

PINHEIRO, João de Deus, Vice-President (Portugal)
SZÁJER, József, Vice-President (Hungary)
ZAHRADIL, Jan, Bureau Member (Czech Rep)
McMILLAN-SCOTT, Edward, Bureau Member (UK)
MAURO, Mario, Bureau Member (Italy)
BAUER, Edit, Member (Slovakia)
FOURÉ, Brigitte, Member (France)
MANN, Thomas, Member (Germany)

Socialist Group in the European Parliament

DÉSIR, Harlem, Vice-President (France)
NAPOLETANO, Pasqualina, Vice-President (Italy)
CARLOTTI, Marie-Arlette, Member (France)
CASTEX, Françoise, Member (France)
CORDA, Giovanna, Member (Belgium)
EVANS, Robert, Member (UK)
GERINGER de OEDENBERG, Lidia Joanna, Member (Poland)
GRUBER, Lilli, Member (Italy)
HAZAN, Adeline, Member (France)
LAIGNEL, André, Member (France)
LIENEMANN, Marie-Noëlle, Member (France)
NAVARRO, Robert, Member (France)
SAKALAS, Aloyzas, Member (Lithuania)
VAUGRENARD, Yannick, Member (France)

Union for Europe of the Nations

CZARNECKI, Ryszard, Treasurer (Poland)
CZARNECKI, Marek Aleksander, Member (Poland)
FOLTYN-KUBICKA, Hanna, Member (Poland)
KRISTOVSKIS, Girts Valdis, Member (Latvia)
LIBICKI, Marcin, Member (Poland)

Independence/Democracy Group

SINNOTT, Kathy, Bureau Member

Chinese Security forces use chloroform to arrest Tibetan protesters:

2008-06-26T15:25:00.000-07:00

{The Tibet Post International - Wednesday, 25 June 2008}
According to a reliable source, on June 18 2008, some Chinese Security personnel sprayed chloroform on a Tibetan lady called Passang Dolma, aged 22 from Lamnga Village in Kardze District while she staged a peaceful demonstration from Degonpo Cathedral calling for Tibet's independence.
She was later arrested in her unconsciousness. The reason for making her unconscious before her arrest is to prevent her from shouting and making her voice unheard at the time of her arrest.

Prior to her leaving for the peaceful demonstration Passang Dolma had left her house key with an acquaintance asking to pass on her last words to her brother if she died while protesting. "Our parents died hoping and dreaming for many years to see His Holiness the Dalai Lama back in Tibet and Tibet's independence, and I also personally follow their path with full enthusiasm and firm commitment. Even if I die, I have no regrets", she had told with unwavering courage and determination to carry on with the protest.

In another incident, on June 21 (Around 11:00 AM), Jampa Choepel from Minyen Dhab, staged a peaceful demonstration while holding a Tibetan national flag in his hand and a scarf with a small picture of His Holiness the Dalai Lama tied around his head.

Instantly some Public Security personnel arrived and started to beat him severely and later arrested him. Similarly (on an unspecified date) Ngagha and Dorjee Tashi from Gyensang Village in Kardze Area were arrested after continuous interrogation. The duo were involved in pelting stone at Chinese vehicle when some Public Security Bureau personnel were arresting some Tibetan protestors.

According to yet another recent report, the layperson who was involved in staging a peaceful demonstrations on June 18, along with three monks from Beri Monastery is known to be Palden Nyima, age 27, from Minyen Dhab. We have received another two new names of the demonstrators of June 22 afternoon. They are Karma Wangchuk, aged 29 (layperson) and a female Tibetan, Pelmo, aged 17 from Minyen Dhab.

Tibetan Monk Demands Probe

2008-06-26T15:23:00.000-07:00

A Tibetan monk makes a bold request for an inquiry into alleged police graft after a large sum of cash goes missing during a search of his monastery in China's remote western province of Qinghai.

HONG KONG—A Tibetan monk in China’s remote Qinghai province has petitioned authorities to investigate the disappearance of a large sum of cash from his monastery quarters, saying he believes police officers who searched his room are responsible.

In an unusual petition to county prosecutors, Choyang Gyatso wrote that 23,000 yuan vanished from his quarters at Rongwo monastery between April 17 and April 19, for which he blames 20 police who searched the premises after they detained him.

He also threatened to sue the government unless authorities investigate.

The letter, dated May 13, informs the Rebgong (in Chinese, Tongren) People’s Procuratorate that on the afternoon of Choyang Gyatso’s detention, police “searched my room in the monastery, and took 23,000 yuan.”

“The money includes donations by the devotees and the families of my fellow monks including Tenzin Lekshek, Yonten Yarphel, and Lodro Tenpa from Gendun Tengyal monastery. Yeshe from Jiantsa and Khedrup from Dro Rongwo can testify that I had the money in my room,” he said.

Demand to investigate

“Those who searched my room included 15 special policemen and five armed policemen… The cash was wrapped in a yellow ceremonial scarf and placed in a red cloth bag,” he wrote.

“After I was released on the morning of April 19, I found the cloth bag was on my bed in my room, but the ceremonial scarf and the money had vanished,” Choyang Gyatso wrote.

“I think this is directly related to those people who searched my room, and they should be held directly responsible for the incident.”

“Therefore, hereby I would like to request that the People’s Procuratorate quickly investigate the incident, and demand that those who stole my money from my room return it immediately. If your esteemed working unit does not investigate the incident, I will sue and find out all the illegal actions of those involved in this incident, at any cost.”

No comment available

Several phone calls during working hours rang unanswered at the Rongwo monastery and at the Tongren county Public Security Bureau.

The Beijing-based Tibetan writer Woeser said she had received a copy of the letter, which bears the fingerprints of Choyang Gyatso and several witnesses.

“On April 17, many of the monks from Rongwo monastery, along with many lay people, were detained, including Choyang Gyatso,” Woeser said.

“Part of the 23,000 yuan in question had been given to him by his family, and some came from donations and payments for prayer sessions. He had saved the money to be used on the monastery."

Numerous monks and lay people were detained around April 17 in and around Rongwo monastery, Woeser said.

That was a little more than a month after the worst protests in almost 50 years erupted against Chinese rule in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and neighboring Sichuan and Qinghai provinces.

Similar allegations

Allegations similar to those in the petition have emerged in other Tibetan areas as well.

On April 18, 23 trucks filled with 30-50 troops each from the Lanzhou Northwestern Military Command reportedly raided Tsendrok monastery in Amdo Maima, Machu (in Chinese, Maqu) county, in Gansu province, saying they were searching for weapons.

They found some rifles stored at the monastery by nomads, and they removed a large golden Buddha statue, along with a number of religious relics, Tibetan witnesses said.

“The gross value of all the sacred religious objects taken from the monastery is estimated at more than 105 million yuan,” one Tibetan source said. Monks complained and officials said they were investigating, she said.

Original reporting in Mandarin by Gao Shan, and in the Amdo dialect of Tibetan by Palden Gyal and Chakmo Tso. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Tibetan service director: Jigme Ngapo. Translated and written for the Web in English by Sarah Jackson-Han and Jennifer Chou. Edited by Luisetta Mudie and Karma Dorjee.

rfa.org

International Olympic Committee sets precedent with reprimand for Tibet Party boss

2008-06-26T15:21:00.002-07:00

International Campaign for Tibet
June 26th, 2008

In a rare departure, the International Olympics Committee said that it "regrets that political statements were made during the closing ceremony of the torch relay in Tibet," referring to comments made by Communist Party chief in the Tibet Autonomous Region Zhang Qingli, a well-known hardliner who has a leading role in the current crackdown.

"We welcome a public statement by the IOC in response to Chinese officials using an Olympic stage to denounce the Dalai Lama and assert their claims over Tibet," said John Ackerly, President of the International Campaign for Tibet.

The IOC letter to BOCOG sets a precedent for how it will respond to China using Olympic venues for overtly political statements. The International Campaign for Tibet calls on the IOC to treat all political statements from Olympic venues equally and not discriminate based on content or deliverer.

"If it intends to eject athletes or others from Olympic venues for making political statements, it should treat political figures the same way, regardless of their nationality," Mr. Ackerly added.

In an email to ICT, Communications Director Giselle Davies said: "We have written to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games Organising Committee (BOCOG) to remind them of the need to separate sport and politics and to ask for their support in making sure that such situations do not arise again." Ms Davies did not answer questions posed by ICT as to whether the IOC would take possible further action in order to ensure that such comments were not made during the Olympics itself, such as seeking an apology, or requesting that Zhang Qingli not attend the ceremonies.

On the Olympic stage in Lhasa, on the official leg of the torch relay on Saturday (June 21), Zhang Qingli had said: "Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it ... we will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique." He added: "In order to bring more glory to the Olympic spirit, we should firmly smash the plots to ruin the Beijing Olympic Games by the Dalai clique and hostile foreign forces inside and outside of the nation," he said. The transcript of Zhang's speech on the website of the Tibet Information Office website (http://info.tibet.cn) omitted the line about the Dalai Lama. Tight security was in place in Lhasa for the torch relay; Lhasa citizens were told not to leave their houses or look out of their windows, and there was a climate of fear throughout the city in the aftermath of protests and riots in March.

Zhang Qingli's comments were consistent with rhetoric throughout his career as Party Secretary of the TAR since March 2005. In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel a year after his appointment, he said: "I have never understood why a person like the Dalai Lama was honored with [the Nobel Peace Prize].We do not know how much longer he will live. We believe that good people live longer while bad people live shorter lives." (August 16, 2006). Zhang Qingli, who is 57, has assumed a leading role in the crackdown against the protests in recent months, enforcing an intensified implementation of 'patriotic education' in monasteries, nunneries and the lay society in the region which requires even schoolchildren to write lengthy denunciations of the Dalai Lama. His virulent rhetoric against the Tibetan religious leader has led to widespread resentment in Tibet and has provoked further unrest.

savetibet.org

China says anti-Dalai Lama rant not politicising Games

2008-06-26T15:21:00.001-07:00

Reuters

Beijing, June 26 - China on Thursday shrugged off a warning by the International Olympic Committee not to mix politics with sport, describing anti-Dalai Lama comments during the Tibet torch relay as "striving to stabilise" the region.

Beijing blamed the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader and his followers for deadly riots that broke out in Tibetan capital in Lhasa on March 14, and regularly accuses him of scheming to split the restive Himalayan region from China.

The IOC on Wednesday said it had written to Beijing Olympic organisers to ask them not to politicise the Games after Tibet's Communist Party boss Zhang Qingli said China's "red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above the (Tibetan sky)".

"We will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique," Zhang added, during a ceremony marking the end of the Olympic torch relay in Lhasa.

Lhasa's Communist Party boss, Qin Yizhi, also denounced the exiled spiritual leader at the relay's opening ceremony.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said he was not familiar with the specifics of the IOC's letter, but said the officials' comments did not contradict China's opposition to politicising the Olympics.

"China's firm stance is to oppose politicising the Olympic Games, and especially using them to interfere in China's domestic affairs," Liu told a regular news conference.

"For some officials to express their attitudes on some issues is not to politicise the Olympics, but it is striving to further stabilise the Tibet region and create a harmonious and stable environment for the Olympic Games," Liu said.

The Lhasa riots and China's subsequent crackdown became a focus of anti-Chinese protests on relay legs in London, Paris and San Francisco, prompting ugly scenes which alarmed the IOC and fuelled nationalist fury among many Chinese.

China has often denounced critics for politicising the Games and the Olympic charter allows for no demonstration or political propaganda at "Olympic sites or other areas".

Tibet has cast a long shadow over the torch relay, which China hoped would project the image of a stable, modern and harmonious country ahead of the Games.

(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Nick Macfie)

phayul.com

Get On the Bus

2008-06-26T15:18:00.000-07:00

Globe and Mail[Thursday, June 26, 2008 10:08]
By Geoffrey York

LHASA - It was the loud man with the megaphone, herding us relentlessly onto the buses, who symbolized the worst of our escorted tour of Tibet.

The official press tour is one of the rituals of Communist China, as time-honored as the ceremony to raise the Chinese flag at Tiananmen Square every morning. It's far from the ideal way to gather news.

But with Tibet still tightly sealed off from the outside world, I accepted an invitation to join a government-sponsored press tour to Lhasa this weekend, realizing it was the only way to get even a limited glimpse into this locked-down region.

It was only the second time that foreign journalists have been permitted to enter Tibet since the wave of sometimes-bloody protests that began on March 10, so I was keen to get a first-hand look into the forbidden territory.

But an official press tour can be a humiliating experience. Our itinerary was filled with weirdly irrelevant events, including a handicrafts exhibition, a visit to a tourist village, and a press conference to announce a performance of traditional dance. The man with the megaphone was constantly barking at us, hectoring us to move faster. The schedule was packed with activity from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., to keep us busy and distracted from the real news.

Every moment was pre-programmed. To ensure that we didn't miss anything, we were given unsolicited wake-up calls at 6:15 a.m., urging us out of bed and into the program.

We were lodged in a government hotel, far from the historic centre of Lhasa, to make it even harder for us to have any independent contact with monks or other malcontents.

At the allocated time for dinner on Friday, I managed to slip away from the hotel and hail a taxi to the old town, where I was able to see the massive security presence, including thousands of paramilitary police in camouflage uniforms, in advance of the Olympic torch relay the next day. There were paramilitary troops and regular police on every corner.

A few other journalists also slipped away from the hotel. The next day, we were reprimanded by a government minder, who claimed to be worried about our personal safety. “This is Lhasa,” she warned ominously. “You could get lost, you could be detained. It could happen anywhere, particularly Lhasa. When you're out, we're really concerned. Anything could happen.”

When I protested that Lhasa seemed perfectly safe – especially with police stationed on every street corner – the minder made a vague reference to “intelligence” reports about possible attacks.

(The official minders were a constant source of disinformation. When asked why all the shops near the Olympic torch route were shuttered on Saturday, one minder claimed that Lhasa's shops are always closed on Saturdays.)

The truth is, of course, that the Chinese authorities don't want the foreign media to talk to Tibetans who are unhappy with Chinese rule. The monks, who led the March protests, were kept far out of sight during the press tour. One journalist found a monk in a back corner of the Sera monastery. He said nothing, but burst quietly into tears.

I talked to a few Tibetan shopkeepers near the Jokhang temple, the holiest Tibetan temple at the heart of Lhasa's old town. They were too wary to say much – but they made it clear they were suffering greatly from China's decision to prohibit foreign tourists from entering Tibet.

After I filed my first story on Friday, I took a quick look at the Globe's website. China's censors had blocked my story. The first few paragraphs were visible on my screen, but then it ended in mid-sentence and the website crashed. It was a strange irony: I was invited, but censored.

It's interesting to recall that China promised full press freedom as one of its pledges to the International Olympic Committee when it was awarded the 2008 Olympics. With more and more of China effectively barred to journalists – including Tibet, the ethnically Tibetan regions of western China, and now even some parts of the Sichuan earthquake zone – the pledge of press freedom seems to be fading every day.

A footnote on the press tour: the Chinese state media have claimed that 29 foreign media organizations were invited to Lhasa for the torch relay. What they didn't mention was the peculiar composition of the press contingent.

Not a single newspaper from the United States or Britain was invited. The group was heavily weighted towards TV crews. Geography was apparently the main criteria, with one media organization invited from each major country. The U.S. was represented only by an NBC crew, while the New York Times and Washington Post were excluded. Britain was represented by a BBC crew, while nobody was allowed from the Times, the Telegraph or the Guardian. Almost half of the invited journalists were from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau.

phayul.com

Pro-Tibet protester runs onto field during Euro 2008 semifinal match

2008-06-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

BASEL, Switzerland - A pro-Tibet protester ran onto the field late in Germany's 3-2 win over Turkey on Wednesday in the European Championship semifinals.

The man was wearing a T-shirt with the words "Tibet is not China," and he ran on the field at St. Jakob Park moments after Turkey had scored an 86th-minute equalizer. He made it across most of the field before a security guard tackled him inside the opposite area.

Several guards then surrounded him and carried him off the field.

China's communist leadership has faced a public relations disaster since protests of its rule of the Himalayan region turned violent March 14 in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, sparking waves of unrest in surrounding provinces.

That was followed by protests at the Olympic torch-lightning ceremony and on several of the relay routes around the world.

phayul.com

China allows foreign journalists in Tibet

2008-06-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

BEIJING: After throwing open Tibet to foreign tourists on Wednesday, China has said that foreign journalists in the country can apply for permission to visit the remote Himalayan region.

“When Tibet is returning to normal, the timely announcement of reopening Tibet is a very important progress. If you all wish to go to Tibet, it is open again. I believe foreign journalists will be able to apply for their trip to Tibet as in the past,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. Tibet had been kept out of bounds for foreign journalists after the March 14 Lhasa riots.

Liu, however, warned journalists that there could be “some uncertainties in the local situation” and urged them to cooperate with local authorities during their travel.

He said China’s policy of “open Tibet” had remained unchanged. Stability in Tibet was in the interest of all ethnic groups in China and “this is also what is expected by the international community”.

indiatimes.com

Tibetan Parliament Appeals For Fair Treatment of Tibetans in Nepal

2008-06-25T14:58:00.002-07:00

TibetNet
Dharamshala, June 23 - The Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile has sought the intervention of the Nepalese prime minister for fair treatment of Tibetans in Nepal and to help release all the Tibetans arrested during the recent peaceful demonstrations in Nepal.

In an appeal letter forwarded to the prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala on 21 June, Dolma Gyari, the deputy speaker of the Tibetan Parliament noted the cordial relationship shared between Nepal and Tibet during the 7th century and from 17th to 20th century until the pre-1959 Tibet.

The deputy speaker said many Tibetans are killed, tortured and continues to be imprisoned since a series of peaceful demonstrations against the repressive Chinese policies, which swept across Tibet in March this year.

"To show solidarity to their effort and the common cause of Tibet, the Tibetan refugees in Nepal, like other Tibetans in diaspora, hold peaceful protests and rallies. Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile is saddened to hear that many Tibetans including three Tibetan community leaders have been detained," she added.

She said: "Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, therefore, request His Excellency Shri. Girija ji, to kindly intervene, so that Tibetan refugees are treated democratically and allowed the freedom of expression."

The full text of the letter follows:

21 June 2008

His Excellency Shri Girija Prasad Koirala,
The Prime Minister,
Kathmandu, Nepal

Nepal and Tibet shared very close relationship during the 7th century and from 17th to 20th century until the pre-1959 Tibet. The first Tibetan currency was obtained by Tibet from Nepal. The official delegation of the Tibetan Government, visited Nepal annually to offer prayers at the Buddhist stupas and the pilgrimage sites. At the time of admission of your great country to the United Nations, the treaty of 1856 between our two countries was taken into consideration. Vide this treaty; the Gorkha government committed that, "Henceforth to afford help and protection to it (Tibet) as far as they (Nepal) can, if any foreign country attacks it." Your government was also kind enough to be witness to the 1912 treaties between China and Tibet, which led to the withdrawal of Chinese troops from the soil of the Tibetan nation.

Since then, the political situation of Tibet has changed. We are going through a very critical period of our history. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Govt-in-Exile is engaged in sincere efforts to find peaceful solution to the Tibetan issue within the framework of the constitution of the People's Republic of China. We are grateful to the people and the Govt. of Nepal for the hospitability extended towards the Tibetan refugees in the past.

Since the 10th of March 2008, there continues to be demonstrations/protests throughout the three provinces of Tibet, which has drawn widespread international attention and support. During these uprisings, many Tibetans are killed, tortured and continues to be imprisoned.

To show solidarity to their effort and our common cause, the Tibetan refugees in Nepal, like other Tibetans in Diaspora, hold peaceful protests and rallies. We are saddened to hear that many Tibetans including three Tibetan community leaders have been detained.

We, therefore, request your Excellency to kindly intervene, so that the refugees are treated democratically. Last but not the least, the Tibetan refugees, may kindly be allowed the freedom of expression.

With sincere prayers for a sympathetic consideration.

On behalf of the Tibetan Parliament

Yours Sincerely,

Dolma Gyari
Deputy Speaker

phayul.com

Lhasa's monks all but vanish in Chinese crackdown

2008-06-25T14:58:00.001-07:00

The Globe and Mail, Canada[Monday,
Severe restrictions, including checkpoints and surveillance, imposed since wave of anti-government protests in March, exiles say

By GEOFFREY YORK

LHASA, June 23 — The pilgrims returned to the Potala Palace yesterday, spinning their prayer wheels and prostrating themselves in front of the Dalai Lama's ancient palace on a mountaintop in Lhasa.

For two days, the Buddhist pilgrims had been pushed to the sidelines to make room for the Olympic torch relay in Lhasa. The traditional pilgrimage route at the Potala Palace was unceremoniously shut down, in one of many security measures by Chinese authorities, even though a month-long Buddhist festival has drawn thousands of pilgrims to the Tibetan capital.

But as the pilgrims returned, a mystery remained: Where are Lhasa's monks? A visit yesterday to the Sera monastery, the second-biggest Buddhist monastery in Tibet, found that its 550 monks had virtually disappeared from sight. Most buildings and outdoor areas at the monastery were nearly empty, and only about 10 monks could be seen.

Three days of travel around Lhasa - the first permitted visit by a Canadian journalist since the Tibetan uprising in March - found that the monks were almost entirely gone from the city streets, even in the historic quarter around the Jokhang temple, the holiest temple in Tibetan Buddhism.

Tibetan exiles, who have contacts in Lhasa, say the monks have been subjected to severe restrictions for most of the past three months, since the wave of anti-government protests that erupted in March.

"There are checkpoints and random checks of identification cards throughout Lhasa," said Tsering Shakya, a prominent Tibetan writer and professor at the University of British Columbia.

"There are police stationed at the exits of the monasteries, and they check the IDs and register them. It is deterring a lot of monks."

Lhasa residents are finding it difficult or impossible to phone the Sera monastery to reach relatives who are monks there, Mr. Shakya said. "It's a security measure. The monks were the most vocal in the protests, and they are the targets of the current campaign. They're under careful surveillance."

Lobsang Choepel, a 77-year-old monk who heads the government-controlled administration at the Sera monastery, denied there were any restrictions on the monks. "They can go downtown to do shopping and they can go to the market to buy vegetables," he said yesterday. But he didn't explain why so few monks were visible on the streets or in the monastery itself.

After giving brief answers to five questions from foreign journalists, the monk was hustled away by Chinese officials, who refused to permit further questions. They told the journalists to hurry to the next event on the government-sponsored visit. No other access to the monks was permitted, aside from a guided tour of the monastery's historical relics.

Sera monastery, whose monks helped lead the protests that began in Lhasa on March 10, has remained under tight security control since then. Several uniformed policemen were posted at the monastery's entrance yesterday, carrying radios.

China deployed a massive security operation in Lhasa on the weekend as it sent the Olympic flame on a two-hour dash through the city.

Invited guests were allowed into the opening and closing ceremonies, but most ordinary Tibetans were kept far away from the Olympic flame as it was carried on a shortened run through the Tibetan capital on Saturday morning.

Thousands of paramilitary police and regular police kept a close eye on the event, which passed without incident, despite government reports that Tibetan separatists were trying to sabotage it.

Much of the city, aside from the torch route, was almost deserted. Residents were told to stay inside their homes, unless they had a special pass allowing them to cheer for the torch. Hundreds of shops along the torch route were shuttered for the day. Tibetans who ventured outside were kept behind steel barriers on side streets.

A small group of foreign journalists, invited to attend the relay, were not permitted to see any of the nine-kilometre run, except the beginning and end. They had to pass through a barbed-wire checkpoint and other security checks before they were permitted to attend the opening ceremony.

At the end of the relay, the Olympic flame was greeted by a carefully choreographed display of ethnic dancing and rhythmic flag-waving from thousands of schoolchildren and other hand-picked spectators.

Chinese officials took advantage of the Olympic event to launch another verbal blast at the Dalai Lama, whom they blame for the unrest in Tibet.

"We will certainly be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama clique," Zhang Qingli, the hard-line boss of the Tibetan Communist Party, said in a speech to the crowd at the end of the torch relay. He spoke through an interpreter because he is not fluent in the Tibetan language.

His attack on the Dalai Lama was the latest sign that Beijing has no intention of negotiating seriously with the Tibetan spiritual leader, whose representatives held preliminary talks with Chinese officials last month. The second round of talks has been postponed at China's insistence.

Another senior Chinese official fired a fresh salvo at the Dalai Lama this weekend. "He has been hiding the truth from the Tibetan people," said Palma Trily, executive vice-chairman of the Tibetan regional government, at a press conference in Lhasa.

"His real aim is to turn Tibet back into a system of feudal serfdom. He has not brought any benefit to the Tibetan people in the past, nor will he bring them any benefit in the future."

Critics said the Chinese authorities had put Lhasa virtually under martial law. "With the way it has militarized the Tibetan capital, China might as well parade the Olympic torch through Lhasa atop a tank," said Han Shan, an activist with an exile group, Students for a Free Tibet.

Human-rights groups also were critical of the decision to parade the torch through the Tibetan capital. "This provocative decision - with the blessing of the International Olympic Committee - could aggravate tensions and undermine the fragile process to find a peaceful long-term solution for Tibet and the region," Sharon Hom, executive director of Human Rights in China, said in a statement.

"The government's insistence on parading the torch through Lhasa can only undermine the respect and trust required for a genuine dialogue process with the Dalai Lama."

Nepal Tibetans begin their March to Tibet

2008-06-25T14:55:00.002-07:00

By Tenzin Sangmo

New Delhi, June 25 - Forty two Tibetans comprising of 23 monks, 17 nuns and 2 laymen began their journey from Kathmandu to Tibet today. The peaceful movement was spearheaded by volunteers who got together in view of the current Tibet crisis and the Nepalese Government's treatment of Tibetan protestors on its soil.

The small crew embarked on the revolutionary march to their homeland some nine kilometers outside the City of Kathmandu. Fearing any activity will be viewed as anti-Chinese by the authorities and snubbed even before it started in the Capital, marchers decided to travel to the outskirts and make their way through mountains and terrains avoiding highways and major expressways to keep away from the police and risk being arrested.

Ever since the unrest in Tibet three months ago, Tibetans and support groups worldwide have staged protests against Chinese brutality. There are some 20,000 Tibetan refugees in Nepal who have protested regularly at the Chinese Consulate and the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. Nepal on its part does not tolerate anti-Chinese activities and have since used force to break up peaceful rallies and beaten demonstrators men, women and children alike.

In view of this bitter fact where Tibetan refugees still live under fear of acting out against their agitator in a free country, marchers have decided to take the path less trodden to make their way back to a land their ancestors once fled.

Their goal is to make over into Tibet and even though they anticipate some resistance at the border they are hopeful their effort will pay off and will live to see the sun shine over Tibet once again.

Tibetans have taken it upon themselves to carry out various forms of peaceful protests against China until the issue of basic human rights and freedom to expression among others is resolved. They aim to move forward with their resistance until peace in restored on the roof of the world.

China reopens Tibet to foreign tourists

2008-06-25T14:55:00.001-07:00

By HENRY SANDERSON
BEIJING (AP) — Tibet reopened to foreign tourists on Wednesday, three months after the Chinese government banned such visits in the wake of violent anti-government riots and protests that tainted the image of the country ahead of the Olympics.

The first foreign tourists, a retired Swedish couple, arrived at the airport near the capital, Lhasa, on Wednesday, said Tibetan Tourism Bureau spokesman Liao Lisheng.

"Tibet is open now to all travelers from home and abroad," he said.

Kurt Persson, 77, and Eva Sandstrom, 62, were welcomed with traditional Tibetan white silk scarves at their hotel near the sacred Jokhang Temple, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

"We've been looking forward to visiting Tibet for many years. Its monasteries and landscapes are fascinating," Xinhua quoted Sandstrom as saying.

The five-day trip is their first to Tibet, Xinhua said. "We have no worries about the safety here," Sandstrom said. "The only worry was to get the permission to come."

The Himalayan region has been all but closed to the outside world since the biggest protests against Chinese rule in two decades exploded into rioting March 14 in Lhasa, leading Beijing to swiftly shut off the area.

Troops also flooded into predominantly Tibetan communities in nearby provinces, where sympathy demonstrations were occurring. They performed drills in town squares and set up checkpoints around sensitive areas. Officials said the restrictions were established for the safety of foreign tourists and journalists.

China says 22 people died in the anti-government protests. But overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number were killed in the riots and the resulting security crackdown.

A notice on the tourism bureau's Web site announcing the lifting of the ban said life in Lhasa had returned to normal.

"Tibet's society is stable and harmonious, its markets bustling, and its environment beautiful," it said.

But there are still signs of tension.

Hundreds of alleged perpetrators have been arrested in the last three months, with many sentenced to years or life in prison for their role in the protests.

Buddhist monasteries — seen as incubators for anti-government sentiment — remain subject to searches by police and monks are forced to undergo political indoctrination against the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader. The Drepung monastery remains closed to visitors.

And despite the lifting of the ban, it's not clear how accessible Tibet really is, given that foreign visas to China are being restricted in the run-up to the Aug. 8 Beijing Olympics, said Michael C. Davis, a law professor and China expert at Hong Kong's City University.

"In name, they could lift the restrictions but still have them across the board," he said.

Foreigners need a separate permit from an official travel agency to enter Tibet and are required to hire a guide for travel outside Lhasa.

"If they don't have an agenda, like separating the country or trying to cause damage, then the foreign tourists can have an entry permit," said Liao, the tourism bureau spokesman.

Last week's Olympic torch run through Lhasa was carefully orchestrated after it was cut to one day from the original three. Crowds were monitored by security agents and only a few hand-picked foreign journalists, who even under ordinary conditions must apply for permission to visit Tibet, were invited to cover the event.

The three-hour relay was apparently completed without incident.

It had been considered a flashpoint amid criticism by overseas Tibetan activist groups who accuse Beijing of using the event to symbolize its control over the region. China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially independent for much of that time.

The March violence and tourist ban have taken a major toll on Lhasa's economy, which has become increasingly reliant on tourism since the start of rail service nearly two years ago.

Hotels in Lhasa said they'd had almost no customers recently.

"We've had zero business since the Lhasa rioting, not even a penny," said Deji, the manager of booking at Hotel Kyichu in Lhasa. She refused to give her full name, a possible sign of continuing nervousness over being identified by authorities as a troublemaker.

Deji said it will take at least three years for business to return to normal, and that half of the hotel's employees had changed jobs or stayed home since March.

Tibet had 4 million visitors in 2007, up 60 percent from the previous year, Xinhua reported earlier this year. Tourism revenues hit $687 million, accounting for more than 14 percent of the economy.

Tibetan Girl shot dead while attempting to visit her brothers monastery

2008-06-21T14:28:00.001-07:00

An unidentified Tibetan girl, who came from a village, was shot dead using a gun with a silencer by the People's Armed Police (PAP) outside the southern gate of the Tsuklakhang temple, in Lhasa, at about 12:00 noon somewhere around May 20.

She was visiting her brother who is a monk of Tsuklakhang temple. However, the PAP, who are surrounding the temple, denied her permission to visit the temple. She then had an argument with the PAP. While she was having argument, another PAP shot her silently from behind. She died on the spot. A witness reported that she bled from her chest after she fell.

People were dispersed from the scene at gun-point. Her body was later taken away by the PAP. Some of our sources reported that she was from Lhokha. No further details are available.

As a huge contingent of PAP has been deployed in Lhasa from other locations, it is reported that many Tibetans were beaten-sometimes harsh words were used on them-even for not quickly showing their identity cards when demanded by the PAP.

tibetcustom.com

Arrested Tibetan marchers on hunger strike for second day

2008-06-21T14:23:00.000-07:00

TPUM[Friday, June 20

41 Tibetans arrested in border district, stopped from restarting March to Tibet on eve of torch relay in Lhasa

Shimla, June 20 – 41 Tibetans headed to the Indo-Tibet border on Shipkila pass to restart the March to Tibet were arrested by Indian police in four separate incidents. 10 Tibetans arrested in Rampur in Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh yesterday sat for the second day of hunger strike today, refusing to eat and drink unless they are released and allowed to continue the march. 21 Tibetans arrested yesterday in Reckong Peo in Kinnaur district, after a day of hunger strike, were promised by the police authorities that they would be allowed to protest China's occupation of Tibet. On their way from the police station to the SDM office, the marchers took to the street, shouted slogans and pleaded with the authorities to facilitate their safe passage to Tibet.

"We are Tibetans demanding our right to return to our homeland," said Dr. B Tsering, President of the Tibetan Women's Association, speaking from Paonta Sahib where the 300 marchers are being hosted by the local Tibetan communities. "International law concerning refugees' right of return demands that China must not stop us from going to Tibet while India must facilitate our journey instead of obstructing it."

Yesterday morning, three Tibetans walked toward the Indo-Tibet border on Shipkila Pass, planning to hoist a Tibetan flag on Tibetan soil. About ten kilometres from Tibet, they were apprehended by the border police and detained. However, minutes before their arrest, the three were able to unfurl Tibetan flags and a banner reading "Free Tibet Now." Seven other Tibetans planning to join the three were arrested the day before in Pooh.

"The Chinese government is using the Olympic torch as a political tool in an attempt to legitimize its rule in Tibet and the International Olympic Committee has now endorsed this cynical propaganda scheme," said Konchok Yangphel of Tibetan Youth Congress, one of the three arrested at the border post. "Tibetans will keep up our struggle long after the Beijing Olympics have ended, and we will never give up until we stand as free people on Tibetan soil."

Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People's Uprising Movement. On the same day that the march was launched, monks from monasteries in Lhasa, as well as in eastern Tibet, led non-violent demonstrations, shouting slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and independence for Tibet. Chinese authorities brutally suppressed peaceful protests that continued for days, leading to rioting in the capital and a wave of large public demonstrations that have rippled across the country. The March to Tibet and the Tibetan People's Uprising Movement aim to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959 by engaging in non-violent direct action to bring about an end to China's illegal occupation of Tibet.

phayul.com

Tibet capital under tight guard for Olympic torch

2008-06-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

LHASA, China -(Reuters) Tibet's capital Lhasa was under tight security on Friday as it readied to host the Olympic Games torch in a concerted display of China's hold over the restive region.

As a group of foreign journalists arrived in Lhasa to observe the relay, police stood on guard every 200 meters. Trucks full of troops and riot police could also be seen.

Slogans on billboards and village walls both welcomed the Olympics and urged locals not to cause trouble for the torch relay that will pass through Lhasa at 3,650 meters (12,000 feet) above sea level on Saturday before strictly vetted crowds.

"Protect social order and stability," read one sign.

"Harmoniously greet the Olympic Games," read another.

The ancient centre of Tibetan Buddhist civilization will be on show over three months after anti-government protests and then deadly anti-Chinese riots erupted there in March, sparking waves of protest across Tibetan areas that were quelled only by a massive troop influx.

While authorities have spared no efforts to ensure fresh anti-China gestures do not upset the Olympic flame's procession this time, the stark security surrounding it will be a constant reminder of the tensions left after the recent unrest.

China blamed the "clique" of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist leader revered by most Tibetans, for instigating the unrest to upset the Olympics in August. The Dalai has denied that claim and said he supports the Games. But many exiled Tibetans oppose the Games, and especially the Tibet torch relay.

"Since this is a proud moment for the people of China, the Dalai Lama has appealed to Tibetans not to protest," Tenzin Taklha, a senior aide to the Dalai Lama, said from Dharamsala, the home of Tibet's government in exile.

Contrary to China's vows to allow unimpeded media access in the lead-up to the Games, only a selected group of journalists accompanied by officials was allowed to Lhasa for the relay, and the city remains off bounds to free reporting.

Exiled Tibetans and international rights groups have denounced the Tibet torch leg as a slap in the face that will only further alienate Tibetans.

"Lhasa is a city of fear and intimidation whose residents live under constant surveillance," Phelim Kine of the New York-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch said in an email.

"To run the torch through Lhasa under such conditions is a grotesque insult to the Olympian movement's dedication to 'fundamental ethical principles'."

Authorities have told Lhasa residents that they "are ready and willing to 'severely punish' and 'give no indulgence"' to any attempted disruption of the torch run, Kine said.

Many Chinese people, however, were outraged by the rioting in Lhasa on March 14-15, and even more so by the subsequent protests against their government's presence in Tibet that upset the Olympic torch relay in Paris, London and San Francisco.

With patriotic sentiment fired up even more after the nation's response to the devastating earthquake on May 12, many Chinese will look to the Lhasa leg of the torch as a proud show of their nation's role in modernizing the mountain region.

China sentences 12 more over Tibet riot

2008-06-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Chinese state media says 12 more people have been sentenced for taking part in March's deadly rioting in Tibet.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Friday that another 1,157 people have been released from detention over minor offenses related to the violent anti-government protests, in which the government says 22 people died.

Xinhua, citing Vice Governor Palma Trily, says 42 people in all have been sentenced over the riots. There was no word on their offenses or the punishments meted out.

jpost.com

Tibet exile says 209 died in anti-China protests

2008-06-20T11:58:00.000-07:00

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Chinese crackdown in Tibet has killed at least 209 anti-government protesters and turned the mountainous province into a virtual prison, the speaker of the self-proclaimed Tibetan parliament-in-exile said on Friday.

"According to information which we checked and double- checked, the latest number of people killed is 209," said Karma Chophel, speaker of the Tibetan parliament which sits in the northern Indian town of Dharasalam.

The Tibet delegation made the statement during a news briefing in Moscow before flying to the Buddhist republic of Kalmykia in southern Russia for a week-long cultural visit.

The Chinese authorities say that 19 people died in rioting which flared in the Tibetan capital Lhasa on March 14-15.

They accuse the Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist spiritual leader revered by most Tibetans, of instigating the unrest to upset the Olympic Games in August in Beijing. The Dalai Lama has denied that charge.

Human rights group Amnesty International this week estimated that 1,000 people are being held in Tibet without charge, although the Tibetan delegation on Friday said that over 5,000 people had been arrested since the initial violence.

China has dismissed the Amnesty report as lacking credibility. It is not possible to verify the Tibetan information independently.

Chophel said that a virtual blackout on information from Tibet made it very difficult to collect data, but that the exiled Tibetans were confident their sources were accurate.

Lhasa is remote, high in the mountains and barred to foreign journalists without official permission.

A selected group of reporters was taken there on Friday accompanied by officials to see an Olympic torch relay but the city remains off limits to free reporting.

"According to the little information we can get, we believe there has been a lot of killing and torture in jails," Chophel said.

The authorities have closed the borders around Tibet, arrested people seen using mobile phones and forced monks to denounce the Dalai Lama, Chophel said.

"Without any exaggeration we can say that the whole of Tibet has been turned into a big jail," he said.

"Even foodstuff and water has been difficult to get through and many of them (monks) have died of starvation."

Chinese soldiers marched into Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising.

(Reporting by James Kilner; writing by Conor Sweeney, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Around 700 Tibetans detained in Nepal

2008-06-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

KATHMANDU, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Nepali police Thursday detained about 700 Tibetans who disturbed traffic and the working order of the Chinese Embassy in anti-China activities in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu.

About 1,500 Tibetans, divided in at least seven groups, continually staged protests outside the visa office of the Chinese Embassy in Nepal, located in downtown Kathmandu.

The demonstrators, shouting anti-China slogans and abusing Chinese leaders, tried to approach the main gate of the visa office from the streets in the north, the west and the south.

Nepali police detained around 700 of the demonstrators as the protesters, who are seeking so-called "Tibet independence," blocked the traffic of the capital's main streets and affected Chinese diplomatic offices' operation.

Prior to the demonstration Thursday afternoon, the Nepali police in the morning stopped nearly 10,000 Tibetans from storming the Chinese Embassy offices.

On Thursday, the Nepali police also arrested three Tibetans believed to be chiefs of "Tibet Independence" organizations in Nepal.

Anti-China protests by Tibetan separatists have been held in Kathmandu recently, disrupting local traffic and leading to clashes with Nepalese police.

On April 2, Chinese Ambassador Zheng Xianglin said that there were criminal acts of violence involving beating and smashing in Kathmandu against those Tibetans whose positions differ from the separatist forces for "Tibet independence" and against those who refused to take part in anti-China activities.

Nepal to hold Tibet exile leaders

2008-06-20T11:56:00.002-07:00

KATHMANDU, Nepal, June 20 (UPI) -- A top police official in Nepal said Friday three Tibetan exile leaders arrested this week would not be soon be released.

The three were among around 700 activists arrested Thursday during a series of anti-Chinese protests in Katmandu, preceding the ceremonial arrival of the Olympic torch this weekend.

The tiny Himalayan nation between China and India has been under pressure hold down Tibetan protests, which began in March, opposing China's rule of Tibet.

The protests have put a damper on China's hosting of the Summer Olympics in August.

Superintendent of Police Sarvendra Khanal announced Friday that most of the demonstrators would be released soon, but that would not be the case for the three exile leaders, Press Trust of India said

"They will be put into jail for a longer period on charges of provoking anti-China

demonstrations," he said.

The three were identified as Kelsang Chung, director of the Tibetan Reception Centre; Ngawang Sangmi, president of Regional Tibetan Women's Association (RTWA), and RTWA Vice President Tashi Dolma.

upi.com

Olympic flame on visit to isolated Tibet

2008-06-20T11:56:00.001-07:00

By KEN TEH – LHASA, China (AP) — The Olympic flame traveled to Tibet's isolated capital Friday, and an official sentences handed down following anti-government riots that rocked the city three months ago.

The torch relay, which was disrupted during its international stops by anti-China protests — including Beijing's policies in Tibet — was scheduled to kick off in Lhasa at 9 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. EDT Friday).

The 6.8-mile run is scheduled to begin at Norbulingka, the Dalai Lama's former summer palace, and end at the hilltop Potala Palace, the traditional seat of Tibetan rulers, the state-run China Daily newspaper reported. Tight security was expected in light of anti-government rioting on March 14 in Lhasa and subsequent protests throughout Tibetan-inhabited regions of western China.

On Friday, shops were open and people walked around in the center of Lhasa, where banners saying "Go China" and "Go Olympics" were displayed.

Groups of police were visible on virtually every corner and a truckload of riot troops stood watch in the city center. Police stopped an AP Television News cameraman from shooting street scenes and forced him to erase footage of security arrangements.

At a briefing for reporters, the vice governor of Tibet's Chinese-appointed administration said 12 more people had been sentenced for taking part in the rioting.

Palma Trily gave no details of their offenses or punishments, but said another 1,157 people had been released from detention for minor offenses related to the violent anti-government protests, in which the government says 22 people died.

Foreign Tibet supporters say many times that number were killed in the protests and a subsequent crackdown.

Chinese officials say the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled Buddhist leader, was behind the March unrest. They also accuse the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate of trying to sabotage the Beijing Olympics and preparing "suicide squads" to carry out attacks. The Dalai Lama has denied the charges.

Tibet has been under a security clampdown since March and is still closed to foreign tourists. Foreign journalists have been allowed to visit only as part of closely monitored government tours.

Palma Trily repeated China's routine criticism of the Tibetan exile community, but said stability had been restored following renewed political indoctrination campaigns in Buddhist monasteries that are a hotbed of anti-Beijing sentiment.

"Their ultimate goal is to damage the happy life of the people in Tibet," he said.

"After this period of re-education, the vast majority of temples and monasteries have returned to normal religious activities. Stability has been returned and public order has been restored," Palma Trily said.

Activist groups say the torch relay in Tibet and a separate relay to the peak of Mount Everest are an attempt by Chinese leaders to symbolize their control over the Himalayan region.

China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially independent for much of that time.

During the Lhasa leg, the Olympic flame will be reunited with the one that was carried to the summit of Everest last month.

The torch was originally supposed to go through Tibet earlier this week. It was unclear why organizers changed the date.

Organizers also said last month that the Tibetan leg, originally set for three days, would be cut to one day to make way for a switch in the visit to Sichuan province, the center of a May 12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people.

The torch has thus far had a smooth run in China, undisturbed by the protests over Tibet and human rights that hounded its appearance in London, Paris, San Francisco and elsewhere.

BBC will show Beijing Olympics protests

2008-06-18T15:30:00.001-07:00

By Richard Spencer in Beijing

The BBC will show political protests if they occur during the Beijing Olympics, the corporation said yesterday, even if the Games' organisers attempt to censor official footage.

The BBC, the only British broadcaster with access to stadiums this summer, says it cannot be expected to hide demonstrations if they happen at events where they have cameras.

Its decision, which it stresses will be applied "responsibly", will increase Beijing's nervousness as the Games approach.

The Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games, BOCOG, has already had angry exchanges with the world's leading broadcasters who complain of delays over permits to bring their equipment into the country and to deploy them around the city.

Dave Gordon, head of major sports events for the BBC, told The Daily Telegraph that Beijing had become "more difficult" for broadcasters than the Moscow Games in 1980.

He said international representatives had tried to get answers for two years on whether the Olympic broadcasting agency that provides the only feed of the actual events would show footage of protests if they occurred.

"They fudge the question," he said. "They won't commit to saying yes, they will cover it or no, they will not cover it. They put a lot of stress on the importance of covering the sport. I think we have to draw our own conclusions."

Mr Gordon said the BBC paid a lot of attention to "responsible" coverage of protests and whether 24-hour rolling news meant coverage of individual protests might become disproportionate.

But he added it was unthinkable that if its own cameras in the stadium picked up a protest it would not be shown. "We have to cover the Olympics warts and all," he said.

Beijing promised that journalists would be given free rein to report on the Olympics when it was awarded the Games in 2001 - a key demand made of any host city. Last year, in order to comply, the Chinese government suspended normal restrictions on foreign correspondents.

But Beijing has shown increased signs of nervousness at the extent of the foreign presence during the Games and the potential for anti-government disturbances, particularly in the wake of protests in Tibet in March.

It has issued detailed rules for foreigners intending to come to the city, including banning "unauthorised protests", and tightened visa requirements and enforcement.

The Communist Party directly controls BOCOG, which is staffed by officials from the sports ministry and the city government and headed by a member of the politburo.

It has a half share, along with the International Olympic Committee, in the official Games broadcaster, Beijing Olympic Broadcasting, which provides the principal footage from inside the stadiums including all the actual sporting events.

The difficulties in obtaining the necessary permits to operate for other broadcasters came to a head at a meeting in Beijing on May 29.

According to minutes leaked to the Associated Press, even the representative of the International Olympic Committee described Beijing's demands as "unworkable".

Another delegate, representing Asian broadcasters, said Beijing was "suffocating the television coverage in the crazy pursuit of security".

The BBC was represented by the European Broadcasting Union, but Mr Gordon confirmed the account. He said it was the culmination of two years of "frustration" at dealing with BOCOG.

"BOCOG's attitude seems to be 'delay, delay, delay', and not say yes and not say no," he said.

Many broadcasters want to film live from well-known but politically sensitive locations such as Tiananmen Square. They have been told this will be allowed in principle, but complain that permission seems not to be forthcoming.

"The broadcasters are collaborating more closely on these Games than they have at other Games because they are all facing the same problems," Mr Gordon said.

"I have worked on the Olympics for 30 years now. Moscow was the first one I went to, and this is the most difficult I have been to. China is presenting more challenges than any we have had to experience before."

Jeff Ruffolo, a public relations adviser to BOCOG, said the host broadcaster's job was to film sport and associated events, such as supporters in the crowds. But individual protests in the crowd had little to do with sport, he said.

"I doubt seriously that they would show it," he said. He said the same was true of previous Games.

But he added that if other broadcasters with cameras in venues filmed protests there was nothing Beijing could do. "If a television camera takes a picture of a guy holding up a sign and no-one else has a picture, they are going to use it," he said.

"There's not going to be any pre-censorship."

phayul.com

50 marchers arrested close to Indo-Tibet border as China changes Tibet Olympic torch relay route

2008-06-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Pithoragarh, June 17 - Around 9:30am, Indian police arrested 50 Tibetans on their March to Tibet as they entered Dharchula, the last Indian township before the Tibetan border. In groups of 4, the marchers approached the blockade of police officers, attempting to break through in order to continue on their way. The 200 police officers forcefully loaded the groups one at a time onto two waiting buses. It is currently unclear where they will be taken.

“For 100 days we have marched in solidarity with our Tibetan brothers and sisters in Tibet who continue to suffer under China’s brutal crackdown,” said Tsewang Rigzin, President of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “The Tibetan nation is under siege at the moment and China’s parading of the Olympic Torch through our nation’s sacred capital Lhasa is adding insult to injury. We are as determined as ever to keep up our nonviolent struggle until Tibet is independent.”
Yesterday, Chinese Olympics officials announced another change to the Olympic torch relay. Beijing Olympic torch relay official Li Lizhi said that the torch would go to Xinjiang for the next three days, and then head to Tibet. Chinese officials have kept the new torch relay plans secret, refusing to confirm the date of the torch’s arrival in Tibet or the new route. Some media articles have cited sources in Lhasa reporting that the torch will arrive in the Tibetan capital on Saturday, June 21st. Chinese Olympics officials previously reduced the time the torch would spend in the Tibetan Autonomous Region from three days to a single day in Lhasa.

“In addition to tanks and troops in Lhasa, Chinese authorities are now shrouding the Tibet torch relay in secrecy,” said Tenzin Choeying, National Coordinator of Students for a Free Tibet India. “The secrecy and repression surrounding the Olympic torch relay in Tibet betrays the fundamental insecurity of China’s brutal occupation.”

Following a 13 day stand-off with hundreds of Indian police at their camp at Banspatan, 265 Tibetan marchers resumed the March to Tibet on June 4th and were arrested the same day by police at Berinag, approximately 180 kilometers from the Indo-Tibetan border area. On June 9th, the 50 Tibetans arrested today restarted their march in Berinag, and have been constantly surrounded by Indian police since then.

According to sources inside Tibet, China has recently deployed additional military troops on the Tibet side of the border with orders to shoot any Tibetan who might come from Tibet toward the Indian border to support the marchers.

“After 100 days of marching, the Indian government has arrested these 50 peaceful marchers who are following Gandhiji’s tradition of ahimsa,” said Dr. B. Tsering, President of the Tibetan Women’s Association, who was arrested with the marchers. “India has the spiritual and moral duty to help Tibetans in their nonviolent struggle against Chinese colonization. The Indian government must recognize that these Tibetans are not a threat to Indian security. China is the real threat.”

The March to Tibet started on March 10th from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and reached Dharchula after traversing through many states. Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement. On the same day that the march was launched, monks from monasteries in Lhasa, as well as in eastern Tibet, led nonviolent demonstrations, shouting slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and independence for Tibet. Chinese authorities brutally suppressed peaceful protests that continued for days, leading to rioting in the capital and a wave of large public demonstrations that have rippled across the country.

The March to Tibet and the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement aim to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959 by engaging in nonviolent direct action to bring about an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.

phayul.com

Amnesty International says more than 1,000 unaccounted for in Tibet

2008-06-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

By: Meera Selva, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LONDON - A human rights group says more than 1,000 protesters detained during anti-government riots in Tibet three months ago have not been accounted for.

Amnesty International says a quarter of about 4,000 people detained by police during the riots in Tibet in March are unaccounted for. The others have been either released or placed under formal arrest.

The Olympic torch will pass through the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on Saturday.

China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially independent for much of that time.

Amnesty's Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, says the event should draw attention to the missing and those in prison.

"There is very little information coming out of Tibet, but the information we have paints a dire picture of arbitrary detentions and abuse of detainees," he said. "With the torch relay about to enter Tibetan areas, this should be an opportunity to shine some light on the situation there."

Buddhist monks in Lhasa held demonstrations against Chinese rule in March. The protests spread across Tibet and turned violent as protesters clashed with police. Chinese authorities responded with a security clampdown and made parts of Tibet off limits to foreign tourists and most of the international media.

Amnesty International said police and security forces have confiscated mobile phones and computers from monasteries, nunneries and private homes in Tibet to stop people communicating with the outside world.

680news.com

Olympic torch's arrival in Tibet postponed

2008-06-16T12:54:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 16 2008

BEIJING (AP) — Organizers of the Olympic torch relay said Monday the flame's arrival in Tibet would be postponed, but declined to give an exact date for the torch's journey through the region, which has been shrouded in secrecy.

The torch was originally supposed to travel through Tibet on June 18 or 19 before heading to China's largely Muslim region of Xinjiang and Qinghai province. Instead, it will travel through Xinjiang this week and then head to Tibet, said Li Lizhi of the Beijing Olympic torch relay center of the organizing committee for the games.

Li refused to give an exact date for the torch's arrival in Tibet.

It was not clear why the change was made, but the route through Tibet has been kept secret. Foreign journalists are still forbidden from entering Tibet, where a violent uprising in ethnic Tibetan areas throughout China in March led to a security clampdown in the region.

The route has been criticized by Tibet activist groups who see it as an attempt by Beijing to symbolize its control over Tibet. China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially independent for much of that time.

The torch's stop in Tibet — originally set for three days — was cut to one last month to make way for a switch in the visit to Sichuan province, the site of the May 12 earthquake.

The torch relay was also stopped for three days after the earthquake to mark an official mourning period.

So far the torch has had a smooth relay in mainland China, uninterrupted by the protests over Tibet and human rights that dogged parts of its international tour.

Last month, Chinese mountaineers raised the Olympic torch at the summit of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak, producing the triumphant image that China has longed for in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics.

The Everest torch was separate from the main Olympic flame, which is on a three-month tour of China after a one-month trip around the world.

Activists upset with Chinese government policies, especially pro-Tibet independence groups, used the trip around the world to stage protests to highlight their causes.

Olympic torch relay in Tibet on Saturday

2008-06-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

AFP[Monday, June 16, 2008 12:58]

BEIJING - The Beijing Olympic torch relay will make a one-day stop in Tibet on Saturday, Chinese state media reported Monday, but officials said they were unable to confirm the time schedule.

China scrapped its plans to take the torch through the restive Himalayan region for three days from Thursday in the wake of the devastating May 12 earthquake in neighbouring Sichuan province.

But the Beijing News, citing one of the torch bearers who has been chosen to carry the sacred flame in Tibet, said the new plan was to run the leg in Lhasa for one day only, on June 21.

"We can't confirm that report," said Zhang Liang, an official at the Beijing Olympic organising committee's torch relay office. "The next stages of the torch relay will be announced later."

The torch is currently in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing and will then head for Xinjiang, China's Muslim-dominated western-most region where it will stay for three days from Tuesday until Thursday.

Officials have not yet announced where it would go from there. However, the English language China Daily said it would travel directly to Tibet and then on to Qinghai province.

"After the Chongqing leg (on June 15 and 16), the route is being decided a stage by stage basis," said Zhang.

The Olympic torch had originally been scheduled to pass through Sichuan during mid-June and then go directly to Tibet, passing through a district south of Lhasa on June 19 before spending the following two days in the Tibetan capital.

But last month's earthquake triggered wholesale changes to the route which involved switching the mid-June Sichuan section to the first week in August and leaving the rest of the route in limbo.

The Tibet leg has been a major security concern for China since protests against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region were followed by a government crackdown in which 203 people died according to exiled Tibetan leaders.

China has so reported killing one Tibetan "insurgent" and says "rioters" were responsible for 21 deaths.

Pro-Tibet protesters were prominent in massive demonstrations which dogged the international section of the Beijing torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco in April.

The torch relay's website (http://torchrelay.beijing2008.cn/en/journey/) on Monday continued to publicise its original schedule, one that was clearly out of date.

.phayul

China detains at least three Tibetans for peaceful protest in Kardze, Tibet

2008-06-15T15:45:00.001-07:00

This morning at around 11:00 AM (Beijing Standard Time), at least three Tibetans were severely beaten and detained by the Chinese security forces for staging a peaceful protest in Kardze County, Kardze "Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture" ('TAP') Sichuan Province, according to confirmed information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

According to sources, this morning at around 11:00 AM (BST), a peaceful protest was staged by a few Tibetan residents of Kardze County, at one of the road intersections at the Kardze county main market square, raising Pro-Tibet slogans and distributing pamphlets calling for "the swift return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet", "freedom in Tibet", "release of those arrested in recent protests" and "China quit Tibet" etc.

Shortly after their brief protest, at least three Tibetans were known to have been rounded up by the Kardze County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials and savagely beaten, kicked and punched before being taken away to the county detention centre. The number of people having participated in this morning peaceful protest could not be ascertained, however, at least three protesters were confirmed severely beaten and detained by the PSB officials. The current condition of three detainees still remains unknown. The Centre will continue to monitor the situation and will update on the condition and the number of arrests or detained as and when more information surface from the area.

The three Tibetan detained were identified as Namsey Lhamo, a 30- year-old mother of two children and farmer from Raga Village, Dando Township, Kardze County, Tenzin Dargyal, a 32-years-old father of an infant and a farmer from Kardze County and another monk whose identity could not be ascertained at the moment.

TCHRD condemns in strongest terms the Chinese security forces' brutal use of force on the peaceful Tibetan demonstrators and calls upon the Chinese authorities to release three Tibetans who have been arrested and detained for exercising their fundamental human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Constitution and many other international covenants and treaties that she is party to. The authorities should ensure that detainees are not subjected to further ill treatment in the detention centre as they were subjected to in the broad daylight at the market square. The Centre deems the case as an outright clampdown on the freedom of opinion and _expression_ in Tibet. Freedom of _expression_, opinion and assembly are fundamental human rights enshrined in the Chinese constitution and in UDHR.

tchrd

China detains scores of nuns calling for the release of solo protester and critically injures three monks in Kardze Protests

2008-06-11T12:04:00.000-07:00

The Chinese security forces severely beaten and then arrested a nun of SamtenLing Nunnery in Drango County, Kardze "Tibet Autonomous Prefecture" ('TAP') Sichuan Province, following her act of defiance by staging a peaceful solo protest in Drango County, by raising pro-Tibet slogans and distributing pamphlets calling for 'the swift return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet" and "freedom in Tibet", according to confirmed information received from reliable sources by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).

On 8 June 2008, at around 9:00 AM (Beijing Standard Time), Tsering Tsomo, 27 years old nun of SamtenLing Nunnery a.k.a Watak Nunnery, originally from Chakra Village, Drango County (Ch: Luhuo Xian) Kardze "Tibet Autonomous Prefecture" ('TAP') staged a peaceful solo protest in Drango County by raising Pro-Tibet slogans and distributing pamphlets calling for "swift return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet" and "freedom in Tibet" among the people. After a short stint of her solo protest, Tsering Tsomo was known to have been surrounded by the security forces and was severely beaten and tortured by pounding her with iron rods, kicked and punched her indiscriminately. The county PSB officials later took her away to the county Detention Centre for further questioning.

The news of Tsering Tsomo's arrest and torture reached her nunnery. In gesture of solidarity and support calling for her release, at around 5:00 PM, more than two hundred nuns of SamtenLing Nunnery staged a peaceful demonstration and headed towards Drango County headquarters. Before reaching their destination, the security forces stopped the protesting nuns at a place known as Gogaythang from further proceeding with their protest. The security forces used brute force to stop protesters from moving forward. Besides indiscriminate kick and punch, even electric prod and iron rod were used on the peaceful demonstrators, severely injuring scores of them. Ten protesters were seriously injured and were known to have been taken to nearby hospital for treatment. Scores of protesters were detained by the security forces and took away in waiting military trucks to the County Detention Centre. According to source, the family members and relatives of those injured and hospitalized were not allowed to meet their love ones. There is no further information on the current condition of those injured and detained by the Chinese security forces. The Centre is highly concern about the safety of those injured and detained. The Centre has been vigilant on the recent series of protests, arrests, detentions, tortures and disappearance of Tibetans and will continue to monitor the situation particularly in Kardze "TAP" which has witnessed a series of peaceful protests and will update as and when more information surfaces from the area.

Yet in another incident, on 6 June 2008, three monks belonging to different monasteries in Drango County, Kardze "TAP" staged a peaceful protest in front of the county government headquarters, according to confirmed information received by the Centre. The three monks unidentified as Tsewang Dakpa, 22 years old from Jangtha Township, Drango County, Kardze "TAP", Thupten Gyatso(age unknown) from Tawu County, Kardze "TAP" and Jangsem Nyima, 22 years old from Dzatoe County, Jyekundo (Ch: Yushu/Jiegu) "TAP" Qinghai Province staged a peaceful protest calling for the "quick return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet" and "Freedom in Tibet". According to eyewitness accounts from the site of the demonstration, three monks were indiscriminately beaten with electric prod, kicked and punch by the Chinese Security forces that all three require urgent medical attention. Tsewang Dakpa in particular sustained multiple and severe injury from the torture that eyewitness recounted slight chances of his survival. They were known to have been critically injured and taken to Drango County hospital for treatment that day.

However, according to the latest information received by the Centre this morning, there has been rumor of Tsewang Dakpa's death spreading in Drango County following indiscriminate beating suffered at the site of demonstration. However, it cannot be confirmed at the moment. Two other monks were known to have been in critical condition and were shifted to another hospital. There has been no information on their physical condition and current whereabouts following their hospitalization.

TCHRD condemns in strongest terms the Chinese security forces' brutal use of force on the peaceful Tibetan demonstrators. TCHRD also call upon the PRC government to release all those Tibetans who have been arrested and detained for exercising their fundamental human rights enshrined in the UDHR, constitution and many other international covenants and treaties that she is party to. The government of the PRC should ensure that they are not subjected to further ill treatment and torture which are common features in Chinese administered detention centres and prisons in Tibet.

TCHRD is highly concerned about the safety of those detained and critically injured by the security forces and seeks the support of human rights groups and the international community in securing their early release unconditionally. The Centre deems the case as an outright clampdown on the freedom of opinion and _expression_ in Tibet. Freedom of _expression_ is a fundamental human rights which is a prerequisite to the enjoyment of all human rights. Article 35 of the Constitution of the People's Republic of China (PRC) guarantees "freedom of _expression_, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration." Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights proclaims: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and _expression_; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers". The Centre calls upon the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and _expression_, Mr. Ambeyi Ligabo, to intervene on their case and others who were earlier arrested for their peaceful exercise of the fundamental human rights.

tchrd

450 Tibetans detained in Nepal: police

2008-06-10T11:39:00.001-07:00

KATHMANDU (AFP) — Police on Saturday detained 450 Tibetan activists, beating some with bamboo sticks and punching others, as they staged a pro-Tibet protest in Nepal's capital, officials and witnesses said.

Police rounded up the activists as over 500 Tibetans, mostly monks and nuns, crying "Down with China" and "Free Tibet," staged a rally near the sprawling royal pink palace, an area out of bounds to demonstrators.

"We detained around 450 Tibetan exiles as they tried to march into the off-limits area for protests," police officer Bharat Lama told AFP.

"We had to beat them as they forcibly tried to enter the restricted zone despite repeated warnings," Lama said, adding all would be freed later Saturday.

Police dragged the protesters to waiting police vans and shoved them inside.

Those who resisted were punched and kicked, an AFP reporter said.

The Tibetan exiles in Nepal began staging almost daily protests in Kathmandu in March after deadly unrest in their homeland.

They suspended their protests after a catastrophic earthquake hit China on May 12, leaving about 70,000 people dead, 18,000 missing and 15 million more homeless.

But this week they restarted protests in which usually hundreds of demonstrators gather, many are detained and are then released without charge.

They return the next day to be detained again.

Nepal officially respects its giant northern neighbour's "One China" policy that regards Tibet and Taiwan as indivisible parts of China.

More than 20,000 Tibetan refugees live in Nepal and around 2,500 still arrive annually in Kathmandu before heading to Dharamshala in northern India, home of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Move to push Tibet talks

2008-06-10T11:38:00.000-07:00

THE United States and the European Union have agreed to call on China to have "results-orientated" talks on Tibet with the Dalai Lama's representatives, according to a draft joint declaration of their annual summit.

The draft also calls for the United Nations to send a team to Zimbabwe to monitor human rights in the violent campaign for presidential elections on June 27, when opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai hopes to end President Robert Mugabe's rule.

"We welcome China's recent decision to hold talks with the Dalai Lama's representatives," said the declaration. "We encourage both parties to move forward with a substantive, constructive and results-orientated dialogue at an early stage.

"We are concerned about the recent unrest in Tibet and urge all sides to refrain from further violence."

theage.com.au

Talks between China & Dalai Lama envoys likely to be put off

2008-06-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

Dharamsala: (PTI): The next round of talks between envoys of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama and China scheduled for June 11 might be postponed because of Beijing's preoccupation with relief efforts for earthquake victims, an aide to the Lama said on Wednesday.
"China has expressed difficulties in holding talks on June 11 because of the massive earthquake in that country," Tenzing Takhla, secretary to the Dalai Lama, told PTI.

"Though June 11 has yet not been fully ruled out, we are working on alternate dates too," he added.

Takhla said since June 11 for the second round of talks between envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials was decided much before the earthquake had happened, there is some difficulty in holding the meeting on that date.

Asked if the alternative dates would be within June, he merely said "we are working out on it."

The Dalai Lama's envoys Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen had held meeting with Chinese officials in Shenzen on May 4 last in the wake of violent protests in Lhasa and other provinces of Tibet in March.

Though not much headway had been made in that round of talks, the two sides had decided to talk again.

While China had asked the Dalai Lama to stop "instigating" violent protests in Tibet, the envoys of the Tibetan spiritual leader had categorically denied the charge and called for steps for restoration of peace there.

*thetibetpost.com

Peaceful Tibetans Can Never be Labeled as Terrorists

2008-06-06T15:11:00.000-07:00

Dharamshala: 5 June 2008-According to today’s Xinhua news, 16 monks of Woeser and Khenlong monasteries in Markham district, Chamdo (Ch. Qamdo) Prefecture were arrested. Monks were arrested for their allegedly involvement in bomb attacks and plot of April 3, 5, and 7-8th. Chinese officials are seeking additional three monks from the group.
Chinese government’s statement of the monks allegedly involved in a bomb plot is not a fully confirmed incident. If the incident did take place, why hasn’t the Chinese government disclose a single news item on this particular incident until today? What is their reason to suddenly release this information now?

Secondly, patriotic re-education was launched in May inside the above two monasteries. When the monks disagreed to comply with the official’s patriotic re-education campaign, the monks were arrested on May 12. A detail of this incident was mentioned before and can be found in May 14th press release.

Another reason for China’s false allegation include Chinese government’s attempt to defend their violent suppression of peaceful Tibetan protestors. The Chinese government describes and portrays the peaceful demonstrations as violent and terrorist activities. This is not a new act of China. For example, Trulku Tenzin Delek, someone wrongly sentenced to life is in prison under a similar label – for his involvement in a bomb plot. Similarly, many monks were unfairly arrested during the following incident.

Reported earlier in other press releases, these monks were accused of indulging in terrorists activities for the possession of armed weapons inside their monastery’s deities’ room. Weapons inside the monasteries are solely there in symbolism for the purpose of protection of the deities.

In another similar case, Rinchin Gyaltsen along with many other monks from Tang Jia monastery in Gonjo was arrested for their involvement in yet another falsely accused bombing plot. Due to innumerable cases of Chinese government arresting innocent Tibetans with false labeling, the above monks arrested with an accusation of being involved in bomb plots does not hold any credibility.

On the whole, Chinese government’s aims and objectives are to alter all the peaceful demonstrations as terrorists’ activities in name and nature. If bomb plot did occur in reality, it is possible the Chinese government plotted in disguise to blame the Tibetan.

Until independent investigation team with unfettered access to all areas of Tibet are allowed and imprisoned Tibetans gain proper court decision with transparent trials, world will never accept Chinese government’s false allegations of Tibetans engaging in violent or terrorist activities.
Report released by - Tibetan Solidarity Committee

*thetibetpost.com

Students for Free Tibet set to protest during Games

2008-06-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

cbc.ca -A group of pro-Tibetan activists promises it will try to mount demonstrations in Beijing during the Olympics.
Lhadon Tethong, spokeswoman for the activist group Students for a Free Tibet, said Tuesday that the group will stage worldwide protests during the Games, and "probably in Beijing."

The Olympic torch is set to pass through Tibet next week. Tethong called on the International Olympic Committee to cancel that leg of the relay.

The group, which has disrupted the torch run throughout Europe, says it will try to lobby IOC officials meeting in Athens on Wednesday. Group members have gathered there ahead of the meeting.

"If IOC board members truly stand behind the universal values of Olympism they should immediately withdraw authorization for China to take the Olympic torch through Tibet," Tethong said.

"We want to hear [IOC president] Jacques Rogge and the IOC executive board members stop spinning and start talking in real terms."

The IOC meets in Athens on Wednesday to announce the short list of seven cities bidding for the 2016 Olympics.

The torch relay was originally scheduled to be in Tibet for three days after arriving on June 19. Organizers recently said the torch would only spend one day in Lhasa, the capital.

*thetibetpost.com

Tibet: "Monks imposed with Patriotic Re-education"

2008-06-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Dharamshal: 4 June 2008, According to a reliable source, the monks of Kirti Monastery in Amdo Aba were split into 8 groups by the Chinese government. The split groups were imposed with the Patriotic Re-education for 73 days.
Finally, the monks were forced to denounce their faith in His Holiness the Dalai Lama and sign campaigns opposing the Exile Tibetan government. The monks feeling extremely despondent and wretched by the Patriotic Re-education, on June 1, not even a single monk obliged and walked out on the Patriotic Re-education class. From June 2 to June 3, except of 250 monks above the age of 70, all the other monks had left the monastery. Kirti Monastery is emptying out of monks.

According to Xinhua news of June 3, Pema Thinlay, the vice chairman of Tibet’s Autonomous Region told the recently arrived journalists in Tibet that situation in Lhasa has improved and thus has reached normalcy. In addition, the journalists were told armed police have been withdrawn but in the foreseeable future, increased deployment will be to protect the Beijing Olympic torch’s arrival in Lhasa. Other reasons for army presence include for security purpose, i.e., prevent any disruption during the Saka Dawa (the holy month) festival, where Tibetans perform prolonged religious ceremonies. Thirdly, after thorough examination in the tone of the Dalai Lama’s recent speeches abroad, the Chinese predict a danger of farther protests by Tibetan separatists.

In contrary to the above assertion, the truth is, since the peaceful demonstrations of March 2008, Chinese armed police and armies did not withdraw at all. Even during China’s staged-tour of American media and representatives of different embassies, the armed polices and police were although covertly visible, they were not completely withdrawn. The only reason the mass scale of protests in Tibet came to somewhat of a halt is due to the massive military suppression of Tibetans. The mass scales of protests inside Tibet are not diminishing for reasons presented by the Chinese, i.e., the situation has reached normalcy. In fact, normalcy inside Tibet is far from reach and the factual information.

In May, despite the continued harsh crackdowns, sporadic protests continue to occur. Therefore, wrong and strongly resented policies of China need immediate amendment. What the Tibetans resent the most at heart and ridiculous punishment and activities aimed at Tibetan’s loss of identity must be stopped. If the present situation does not improve, it is evident, given any chance or opportunity Tibetans find, due to the unbearable living situation in Tibet, Tibetans will continue to protest. All the activities and demonstrations occurred since March and China’s accusation of the Dalai Lama and Central Tibetan Administration having a role in stirring the riots, whether directly or indirectly are completely false.

Even prior to the protests of March, Chairman of the TAR spread propagandas triggering ill-will of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan people have relationship to stir riots affecting the harmony of inter-racial between Tibetan and Chinese relationship. Another reason is the true ground reality of Tibet is being hindered or hidden from the PRC government and other countries of world is clear.
Report released by - Tibetan Solidarity Committee

*thetibetpost.com

Video Footage of IOC Protest In Athens

2008-06-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

studentsforafreetibet

Marchers Arrested at Berinag

2008-06-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

tibetanuprising.org

Police alert for unrest in Tibet festival

2008-06-06T14:53:00.000-07:00

Police in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa were on alert for potential unrest yesterday as Buddhist pilgrims flocked to the city for a traditional religious festival, a local official said.

"The deployment of armed police was increased because of the coming of a religious festival and as a response to some threat remarks made by Tibetan separatists recently," a government spokesman surnamed Fu told Agence France-Presse by phone.

"Tibetan separatists have said publicly that they were preparing to 'take some actions.' We certainly have to increase police deployment in response to ensure people's safety at the festival."

June 4, the day when the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests in Beijing were crushed, this year also marks the month-long Saga Dawa festival celebrating the birth of the Buddha in the Tibetan calendar.

phayul

Big Tibetan Protest return to Kathmandu

2008-06-06T14:50:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu, June 5 - Protest against China by Tibetans in Nepal resurfaced in Kathmandu today. Over 250 Tibetan volunteers protested in front of the Chinese Consulate in Hattisar, Kathmandu. The protestors as usual were demanding China to stop killing in Tibet, to put an end to the arrests, detention and torture of Tibetans which they said are being continuously carried out by Chinese authorities.

Looking for something different each time, the protestors brought balloons filled with gas tied to a Tibetan flag and a banner reading 'One World, One Dream, Free Tibet', they brought the balloons in front of the Consulate on hopes of releasing them but were stopped by the police and the balloons got loose and flew in the air and the banner was torn down. All protestors came in five buses and were able to reach in front of the Consulate where they protested and shouted slogans – 'Free Tibet', 'Long live the Dalai Lama' and 'Down with Hu Jintao'. Tibetan flags, banners, t-shirts and bandanas with 'Free Tibet' and 'Save Tibet' were seen aplenty today, they have now become an inseparable part of almost all the Tibetan protests in Nepal.

As usual Police started arresting them as soon as the protestors reached in front of the Consulate, many protestors were kicked, punched, dragged and shoved into police vehicles. One Tibetan journalist told Phayul, "Police were kicking some protestors while they were shoving them in". Due to large number of protestors, today's protest lasted for about one hour. One of the protestors while talking to Phayul said, "Six have been injured, they are receiving treatment at Om Hospital, Dawa Drakpa was kicked on his chest, Phuntsok could not move his hand, Ngawang is still unconscious, Gyaltsen Tsundu's head was thrashed to the ground and she is pretty serious, one monk was also kicked in his chest and one lady could not talk, I also got hit on my head again and I am not feeling well". Three of the injured were seen fainting at the protest site and were taken away to the hospital by fellow protestors, one protestor was bleeding from his nose and mouth.

According to Jigme, another volunteer, "A total of 187 Tibetans were arrested, 90 are detained at Gan 2, Maharajgunj, 61 at Anam Nagar Police Station, 36 at Kamal Pokhari and 20 at Durbar Marg. Among the arrested there are 30 Tibetans from Pokhara who came to Kathmandu to join the protest, 32 others from Pokhara have also taken part in the 24-hour relay hunger strike at Swayambhu Hill".

All detainees were later released at 8:30 pm the same day.

phayul.com

Committee to Protect Journalists cautions of risks to media during the Olympics

2008-06-06T14:48:00.000-07:00

By Tenzin Sangmo

New Delhi, June 6 - The New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has warned international media of placing Chinese aides and informants at risk while reporting on sensitive issues during the Games in Beijing.

"Reporters traveling to China should be aware of the risks to people they interview or hire, as well as the dangers they face themselves. Foreign news organizations are instructed to hire local assistants through authorized service organizations only. Sources and assistants remain vulnerable to government pressure. Chinese citizens who speak to the media about sensitive issues or help reporters cover such matters can be subjected to reprisal," it said.

In its eighty page report duly entitled 'Falling Short' the CPJ stated that China in 2001 in its bid for hosting the 2008 Summer Olympics along with Istanbul, Osaka, Paris and Toronto made a powerful argument that Beijing deserved the international showcase as a world economic power with its leaders supposedly eager to create a more open society. As part of the bid process China pledged complete freedom for all accredited journalists. This was furthered by IOC's evaluation commission who in their report issued on April 3, 2001 quoted China's promise that "there will be no restrictions on media reporting and movement of journalists up to and including the Olympic Games."

The day before Beijing was named as the host city for the Olympics, Wang Wei, Vice President of the Beijing Organizing Committee said on July 12, 2001, "We will give the media complete freedom when they come to China".

The media however faced the invariable truth the very next day when Chinese censors blocked CBS News from sending footage of the Falun Gong. The oppressive reality and uncanny nature of Chinese authorities create resentment and tensions simmer in the wake to the Olympics.

After Beijing ordered US owned hotels in China to install internet filters that will monitor international visitors to the Games in August, Senator Brownback in his statement said, "This is wrong, it is against international conventions. It is certainly against the Olympic spirit. The Chinese government should not do that, and should remove that request and that order."

There is also a guide to Chinese laws for foreigners coming to China during the Olympics. The 'Legal Guidelines for Foreigners Entering, Exiting and Staying in China during the Olympics' was published in Mandarin on the Beijing Olympic Committee's website this week. The handbook poses 57 guiding principles which prohibits visitors from indulging in public nuisance like getting drunk freely, public display of affection, making political statements, carrying weapons and arms, wearing t-shirts with bold and antagonizing messages and warns of criminal prosecution against those who defaces or insults the national flag or other insignias.

According to CPJ sensitive topics that can be associated with trouble are problems with the Olympics, Tibet issue, protests over social or environmental concerns, HIV/AID patients, North Korean refugees and the mention of the banned Falun Gong spiritual group.

*phayul.com

Tibetans and supporters arrested for protesting outside of IOC meeting in Athens

2008-06-06T14:47:00.000-07:00

Tibetans Demand IOC Cancel Tibet Leg of Torch Relay and Pressure China for Immediate Media Access to Tibet

Athens, June 6 – Eight Pro-Tibet activists were arrested today following a second day of protest, outside the Athens hotel where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has been meeting. Included in the arrest were the four young Tibetan women from the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe who staged a 'die-in' yesterday outside the hotel. The dramatic action symbolized the death of Tibetans, which Tibet campaigners fear is likely if China is allowed to parade the Olympic torch through Tibetan areas. An additional four activists were also arrested after the group unfurled Tibetan flags and banners reading "IOC: No Torch In Tibet!" and "Open Tibet To Media!."

The five Swiss Tibetans arrested, all with the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe, are Nyima Jangdroen, 25, Jamyang Dolma, 26, Tenzing Kelsang, 28, and Norzin Dolkar, 30, and Tenzin Yeshi, 24. Two Americans, Han Shan, 35, and Kate Nikeefe, 39, were also arrested along with Tibetan Canadian, Lhadon Tethong, 32. The eight were arrested by Greek police and taken to a nearby police station. Tibetans and supporters are in Athens this week to demand the IOC cancel the Tibet leg of the torch relay and pressure China to uphold its Olympic commitment to media freedom and allow immediate media access to Tibet.

"An internal memo shows that even the IOC recognizes the likelihood of bloodshed if the torch goes through Tibet," said Tenzin Yeshi, spokeswoman for the Tibetan Youth Association in Europe. "IOC leaders must do the right thing now and cancel the torch relay through Tibet."

In addition to calling for cancellation of the torch relay through Tibet, the activists called for the IOC to press China to uphold its pledge of media freedom made during its bid for the 2008 Games. Tibet groups are joined by other NGOs including Amnesty International, Reporters Without Borders, and the Committee to Protect Journalists in calling for immediate media access to Tibetan areas, which remain closed to reporters.

"In the unfortunate case that the IOC irresponsibly allows China to parade the Olympic torch through Tibetan areas under clampdown, the IOC must take immediate measures to ensure that international media be allowed access to Tibet before the torch enters," said Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet and on of those arrested. "That means now."

Yesterday morning, Ms. Tethong tried to meet Olympic Chief Jacques Rogge inside the hotel where the Executive Board meeting is taking place. Upon approaching Rogge and asking to speak with him as he entered the meeting, he refused before security intervened. Tibetans and supporters have repeatedly requested a meeting with Rogge and the IOC.

China's Governor in Tibet has promised that Tibetans will be "treated harshly and with no leniency" for protesting during the torch relay. Tibetan exiles and campaigners have heard from sources inside Tibet that Tibetans are opposed to China taking the torch through their lands and are determined to protest. A leaked internal IOC memo acknowledges the likelihood of unrest and suggests IOC staff and leadership express "deepest sympathies or condolences to anyone that was injured or killed, and their families." The IOC has ultimate authority over the Olympic torch relay route.

"Why have IOC leaders prepared a public relations strategy to respond to a tragedy that is still in their power to prevent?" asked Norzin Dolkar, one of the woman involved in the dramatic 'die-in'. "The IOC has a choice between helping the Chinese government stage a successful propaganda exercise which will likely lead to further suffering, or defending the Olympic ideals of building a peaceful and better world."

In addition to raising concerns that Chinese authorities are escalating repression to ensure a protest-free torch relay, Tibet activists have pointed out that it's highly inappropriate to allow the Olympic torch to go through areas facing a severe clampdown, including a large military presence, house-to-house searches, arbitrary detentions and arrests, beatings, disappearances and a climate of fear and intimidation. Since Beijing was awarded the Games in 2001, Tibetans and their supporters worldwide have vigorously appealed to the IOC not to allow the Chinese government to use the 2008 Olympics in its attempts to legitimize its rule in Tibet.

Referring to the young Tibetan nun whose photo was carried by the Tibetan women during the protest, President of Tibetan Youth Association in Europe Tendon Dahortsang said, "It is unconscionable to think that while Sangye Lhamo and others are missing, detained, and likely being tortured, the IOC will allow the Olympic torch to be paraded through Tibet." Lhamo is among more than 80 nuns have been detained since the earthquake of May 12 in various incidents of protest in Kardze, an area of Eastern Tibet now known as Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture and administered under China's Sichuan Province.

At a press conference in Athens on Tuesday, Lhadon Tethong said, "As the IOC gives no indication that they will respond to the global appeals for keeping the torch out of Tibet, providing for media access to Tibetan areas is a life-and-death matter."

Ms. Tethong was arrested and deported from Beijing last August after a week of reporting independently on her blog just days before the one-year countdown to the Games. While there, she made multiple attempts to meet with Rogge and was finally granted a brief meeting with a junior staffer. SFT's Deputy Director Tenzin Dorjee spoke with Rogge in Olympia on the eve of the torch lighting ceremony in March, asking him for a formal meeting with Tibetans. Mr. Dorjee was arrested by Greek police the following day.

phayul.com

Chinese lawyers punished for trying to help Tibetans

2008-06-05T14:56:00.002-07:00

Chinese lawyers who offered voluntary legal support for Tibetans charged with involvement in the protests that erupted in Tibet in March have been denied renewal of their licenses. At least three of the original group of Chinese lawyers who offered their services to the Tibetans may now lose the ability to practice law in China.

At a news conference in Hong Kong yesterday, China Human Rights Lawyers’ Concern Group chairman Albert Ho identified the three lawyers as Teng Biao and Li Heping from Beijing and Zhang Jiankang from the northern city of Xian.

However, according to an AP report, “he also said there were others whom he didn’t want to name because he didn’t want to jeopardize their status.”

Also on Friday, Human Rights Watch spoke about two of the lawyers, Teng Biao and Zhang Jiankang, which they say have “distinguished records of defending civil and human rights cases:”

“Beijing is trying to intimidate the legal profession by suspending these two lawyers and threatening not to renew many licenses,” said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “The goals are to deter lawyers from representing human rights cases, and to deter firms from employing lawyers who want those cases.”

Although the Chinese government and its supporters like to claim that Tibetans have rights under Chinese law and that the Chinese constitution China’s autonomy laws protect Tibetans this is clearly not the case. There is no true rule of law in China or Tibet. Tibetans are at the mercy of the Chinese authorities and the “law” is only used when and however it suits them. As it is, a “fair trial” for a Chinese person is unlikely if it means going up against the government or government interests. Just look at what happened to Hu Jia. The idea that a Tibetan could actually receive a “fair trial” in a case involving “separatism” is laughable.

And so now Tibetans are being tried and convicted behind closed doors with secret evidence. As long as China remains a one-party state where “rule of law” is designed only to preserve the power of the Communist Party, nobody can help them– not even the most brilliant and courageous Chinese lawyers. For them, and any other person in China considering advocating for the rights of Tibetans within the system, the message from the authorities is clear: “Stay away from Tibet or you will pay.”

I have a simple message too for the Chinese lawyers Teng Biao, Li Heping, and Zhang Jiankang. It is a small consolation but I can assure you that I and many others deeply appreciate your courage – and unfortunately, your sacrifice – to see that justice is served.

*beijingwideopen.org

China says arrests 16 for bombings in Tibet

2008-06-05T14:56:00.001-07:00

Beijing - Chinese authorities arrested 16 people, most of them Tibetan Buddhist monks, last month for carrying out three bombings in the restive Himalayan region, the online edition of Xinhua news agency said on Thursday.

It did not give a reason for the delay in the announcement, which came after monk-led protests that turned violent in Tibet in March and spilled over into nearby Chinese provinces populated by Tibetans.

Xinhua did not say if there were any casualties from the blasts.

The report could not be independently corroborated. Foreign reporters need government permission to travel to Tibet.

The suspects admitted carrying out the bombings in Changdu prefecture in April, Xinhua said, adding that the arrests "forcefully undermined Tibetan independence elements' arrogance and effectively maintained social stability in the area", Xinhua said.

Changdu, known in Tibetan as Chamdo, is the birthplace of Tibet's governor, Qiangba Puncog, who has been on the frontline of China's struggle against the Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile in India.

China has accused followers of the Dalai Lama, the most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism, of instigating the rioting -- the worst since 1989. The Dalai Lama denies the charge.

China says about 20 civilians were killed by mobs. The government-in-exile says more than 100 protesters were killed by Chinese troops. Hundreds of rioters have been arrested.

The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Communist rule.

(Reporting by Guo Shipeng and Benjamin Kang Lim; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Fogarty)

phayul.com

"Tibet still closed to foreign press"

2008-06-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

Paris: 30 May 2008.(rsf)Reporters Without Borders welcomes the policy of transparency currently being applied to the foreign press in the areas hit by 12 May's terrible earthquake.

RSF Calls on the Chinese authorities to apply the same policy to the Tibetan regions, where the security forces continue to prevent travel by foreign journalists.

"The government is allowing the foreign media a remarkable and unprecedented level of freedom in Sichuan," Reporters Without Borders said. "It should be extended to the Tibetan regions which the international press has not been able to visit freely since the Lhasa riots on 14 March. The government is clearly trying to prevent the foreign media from confirming the few reports emerging about arrests of Tibetans and reeducation campaigns being carried out since then."

The press freedom organisation has spoken recently to properly accredited foreign journalists who have been turned back when they tried to enter Tibetan areas. "I took one of the roads that goes from Chengdu towards the Tibetan plateau but police at a checkpoint told me to turn round," said a European reporter who did not want to be named.

The repression in Tibet is still taking place behind closed doors. The few reports coming out are being disseminated by Tibetan news media based abroad or by pro-Tibetan organisations. Radio Free Asia reported on 28 May that a Tibetan, Nyima Drakpa, was arrested in mid-April in Sichuan province for providing information to journalists based outside China.

Reporters Without Borders also condemns the harassment of Chinese who adopt a pro-Tibetan stance. After the sanctions applied to columnist Chang Ping in early May, two lawyers, Teng Biao and Jiang Tianyong, have just had their licence renewals refused because they signed an open letter in April calling for detained Tibetans to be given the legal assistance prescribed by Chinese law.

Tibetan writer and blogger Tsering Woeser has been the target of threats and hacker attacks because of her articles about the situation in Tibet. Her blog and Skype (Internet telephone) account were hacked on 27 May. "My password was changed and I can no longer connect to my account," she told Reporters Without Borders, referring to her Skype account. "As far as I can tell, the hacker is already in communication with some of my contacts, which puts them in a situation as dangerous as mine."

Woeser, whose books have been banned and who lives in Beijing, has been placed under house arrest and has been prevented from travelling abroad. Her husband, fellow writer Wang Lixiong, has also been harassed by the authorities.

"The Propaganda Department should stop telling the Chinese media what position they must take on the 12 May earthquake's terrible toll of nearly 70,000 dead and 18,000 missing," Reporters Without Borders said. "Chinese journalists should be as free as their foreign colleagues to write about the angry reactions of the parents of the thousands of children who were killed when their poorly-built schools collapsed."

In the first few days after the earthquake, the Foreign Correspondents Club of China received reports from journalists of altercations with the security forces.

Finnish journalist Sami Silanpaa, the correspondent of the Helsingin Sanomat daily, said six foreign journalists were denied access to Beichuan, a city near the epicentre, two days after the earthquake although Chinese journalists were allowed into the area on the same day. Silanpaa was turned back at roadblocks five times in the days following the quake, including at the entrance to Dujiangyan and Mianyang.

Katri Makkonen, a journalist working for the Finnish TV station YLE, was briefly detained by the police while trying to get to Beichuan but was pleasantly surprised by the favourable reception she found at other checkpoints.

Jonathan Watts, a reporter for the London-based Guardian, was prevented from working freely in the Pingwu region in mid-may. In Niufei, he and his photographer were covering the departure of soldiers for a school buried under rubble when all the material they had shot and recorded was confiscated. Watts was also prevented by police from entering a refugee camp in Mianyang, unlike local journalists, who were allowed in. An Associated Press reporter and his photographer were briefly detained in Loushui on 15 May after seeing soldiers dig a mass grave. Officials interceded to obtain their release.

Hundreds of journalists subsequently enjoyed a great deal of freedom in the field.

The Chinese media, on the other hand, are not free to cover the protests by the parents of children killed by collapsing schools. The Propaganda Department is still urging the media to continue to focus on the efforts and heroism of the Chinese rescue workers, including the soldiers. Propaganda chief Li Changchun said on 17 May that "propaganda's ideological front line" must be to deeply and widely publicise the decisions of the Party central committee and government on managing the earthquake's aftermath.

The Beijing headquarters of the Propaganda Department (or Publicity Department, as it is now officially called) initially went so far as to forbid the national media to send reporters to Sichuan, but a number of newspapers immediately ignored the order.

The liberal press, including the business magazine Caijin, has covered the sensitive subjects despite the bans. And some government media, including the news agency Xinhua and the local television station Sichuan TV, have carried reports taking a very different line from the propaganda on the national station CCTV.
Finally, many eye-witness accounts and photos from Sichuan have been posted on the Internet without being subject to any prior censorship and there have been comments on online discussion forums about the corruption and inefficiency of local politicians. On the other hand, a search of "Sichuan" and "school" on the search engine Baidu yields no articles about the protests by the parents of victims although they have been widely reported in the foreign media.

secrettibet

Tibetan flag on top of Mount Everest

2008-06-04T15:18:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu, June 4 - After months of heavy security and climbing restriction on Mt.Everest by both the Chinese and Nepalese Government to allow safe passage for the Olympic torch to the summit, a 37 year old Jordanian climber Mostafa Salameh became the first man of his country to summit the 8848 meter peak on 25th May 2008 at 6.50 AM from the South Ridge on Nepalese side where he took a Tibetan National flag and fluttered it on top of the world doing all Tibetans proud. He also wrote 'Free Tibet" & "Free Palestine" on the bottom of the flag.

According to Sonam, a Tibetan living in Namche Bazar in the Everest Region, Mostafa came to his shop and was showing a great deal of interest in anything Tibetan and looking for a Tibetan flag to take with him to the peak. Sonam while talking to Phayul over phone said, "He said he wanted to carry a Tibetan flag to the top, so I gave him one from my shop".

Mostafa carried the flag in his bag to the Everest Base Camp amid tight security by Nepalese soldiers stationed there but managed to pass through the security. He took it further to Camp 2 where he succeeded in hiding it again during the checking.

The Nepalese Government under pressure from China did not allow climbers from the Nepalese side of the Mount Everest beyond Camp 2 until May 10 but after the Olympic torch reached the top of Mount Everest from Tibet side on 8th of May, the security was reportedly relaxed. According to Sonam, Mostafa managed to hide the flag until that time and then took it with him to the summit, he was a single climber and escorted by only one Sherpa climber. Sonam said, "He returned to Namche on 29th May, he told me he had a surprise for me and it was the picture. He flew to Kathmandu on 31st and I think now he must have already left Nepal".

Sonam also told Phayul that an American and a Canadian bought t-shirts with 'Free Tibet' slogans and wore it on top of the summit during the season.

phayul.com

Tibetan Women lead third phase protest in Nepal

2008-06-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

Kathmandu, : Over 30 Tibetan women, including nuns today resumed the briefly halted Tibetan protests in Kathmandu.

The activists protested near the Chinese Consulate in Hattisar, Kathmandu this afternoon demanding China to stop violating human rights, arrest, detention and torture, which they said are still being carried out rampantly by the Chinese authorities in Tibet.

The protesters, backed by four men, shouted slogans - ‘liar, liar, Hu Jintao’, ‘Free Tibet’ and ‘long live Dalai Lama’.

Police quickly moved in to stop the protesters as they marched towards the consulate gate shouting slogans. As usual, Police began arresting them and dragged them and pulled them by hair, and shoved them into a Police truck.

One particular police officer hit several times on some of the protestors with his baton and then went back as if he had enough,” a Human Rights observer told Phayul. “It was totally unnecessary, they need more discipline,” he exclaimed.

A total of 32 Tibetans and the four men were arrested and detained at Mahendra Police Club and were later released late in the evening.

Today’s protest led by Tibetan women lasted only about 15 minutes. The protest marked the third phase of Tibetan protest campaigns in Nepal after series of protests initiated since March 10 had to be briefly halted twice following Tibetan Government-in-exile’s calls to show restraint during the Nepal constituent election in April and to stand in solidarity with victims of the May 12 earthquake in China.

“We have resumed our protest today. We followed the call from our government to halt protest activities until May end, but now we need to protest again as China is still locking out Tibet,” one of the protestors told Phayul. “Wwe don’t know anything about Tibetans inside. We still hear about continued crackdown and arrest, so we cannot keep quiet,” the activist said.

phayul.com

INDIAN POLICE ARREST 265 TIBETANS MARCHING TO TIBET

2008-06-04T15:14:00.001-07:00

INDIAN POLICE ARREST 265 TIBETANS MARCHING TO TIBET
Contact: Tenzin Choedon (English, Tibetan, Hindi): +91 975 696 9133
Pema Dorjee (English, Tibetan, Hindi): +91 992 760 6204
March had just resumed after 13-day standoff as China prepares to take Olympic torch to Tibet

Nainital - 259 Tibetan marchers and six members of the organizing committee were arrested by police after resuming the March to Tibet following a 13 day stand-off with police. They had covered 16 kilometers when they were arrested at Berinag, approximately 180 kilometers from the Indo-Tibetan border area. Fifty marchers, including leading Tibetan activist Tenzin Tsundue and Shingza Rinpoche of Sera Monastery, stayed behind at the the campsite at Banspatan in Uttarakhand State, determined to continue to Tibet in the event that their fellow marchers were stopped. The five presidents of the NGOs organizing the March and one coordinator are still being held in Roshanabad Jail near Hardwar.

“As China prepares to parade its Olympic torch through Tibet next week in a blatant attempt to legitimize its rule in Tibet, the increasing repression is compounding the Tibetan people’s suffering under China’s illegal occupation,” said Lhakpa Tsering, a marcher as well as an executive member of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “My only wish is to reach Tibet and join my brothers and sisters. Even if I can’t lessen their suffering, I can at least make sure the world knows about their suffering.”

The nonviolent marchers were arrested this afternoon just after entering Berinag, where a heavy deployment of police barred them from proceeding. The marchers immediately locked arms and sat down to form a solid human chain. They chanted slogans demanding China quit Tibet as they were arrested by the police and loaded onto seven buses and three jeeps. The arrests started at 3:30 PM and lasted for an hour and a half. It is not clear where the marchers have been taken.

For the last 13 days, the police have obstructed food rations and imposed tight travel restrictions on Tibetans in the area in order to isolate the marchers. Yesterday, police at Ganai Gangoli checkpoint blocked a truck carrying food to the marchers.

“As Tibetan refugees in India, we have the right to return to our homeland,” said Tenzin Palkyi, a member of the organizing committee. “In 1959, Tibetans came down this road to escape Chinese persecution. Now again, we are walking on the same road but in the opposite direction to join our brethren who are rising up across Tibet to protest China’s occupation.”

The March to Tibet started on March 10th from Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and reached Banspatan after traversing through many states. On the fourth day of the March, the first group of 100 marchers were arrested and put under judicial custody for 14 days. However, a second group of 48 Tibetan exiles resumed the March two days after the arrest and were joined by the first group soon after their release. Since then the march has grown in size, with as many as 300 marchers.

Tibetans living in exile in India launched the March to Tibet as part of the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement. On the same day that the march was launched, monks from monasteries in Lhasa, as well as in eastern Tibet, led nonviolent demonstrations, shouting slogans supporting the Dalai Lama and independence for Tibet. Chinese authorities brutally suppressed peaceful protests that continued for days, leading to rioting in the capital and a wave of large public demonstrations that have rippled across the country.

The March to Tibet and the Tibetan People’s Uprising Movement aim to revive the spirit of the Tibetan National Uprising of 1959, and engage in nonviolent direct action to bring about an end to China’s illegal occupation of Tibet.

*phayul.com

China keeping tight grip on Tibet

2008-06-03T14:51:00.002-07:00

By Michael Bristow

China appears to be maintaining a tight grip over Tibetan areas, nearly three months after a series of anti-Beijing protests and riots.

The government suggests life in areas inhabited by Tibetans is returning to normal, but evidence suggests otherwise.

Security is tight, Tibetans face travel restrictions, and monks and nuns have been forced to attend re-education classes.

Chinese tourists are once again being allowed to visit the Himalayan region, but not many are making the trip.

Foreigners are banned. It is difficult to get information about what is going on in Tibet and nearby provinces that are home to large numbers of Tibetans.

Chinese central and local government officials - who keep a tight rein on information at the best of times - are saying little.

Back to normal?

The Tibetan Autonomous Region's foreign affairs office did not respond to a series of faxed questions from the BBC about the current situation.

The region's Public Security Bureau also failed to reply to requests for information.

David Kramer, US Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour, got a similar response when he visited China last week.

He was in Beijing to discuss human rights issues with Chinese officials, and directly asked for an update on the latest developments in Tibet.

He appeared to get little out of his Chinese counterparts.

"We did not get information on numbers [of people arrested]," he told journalists.

Despite the lack of verifiable information, the government-controlled media gives the impression that life is returning to normal.

One recent article in the English-language China Daily said Tibet was expecting tourists to flock back to sites such as Lhasa's Potala Palace.

But they appear not to be going back in significant numbers.

One top travel agent has not sent a single tour group since the unrest broke out; another is offering discounts.

Information from other sources also suggests life has not returned to normal in Tibetan areas.

Thubten Samphel, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile, said China is restricting the lives of ordinary people.

"At the moment, we are receiving very little information. There are restrictions on telephone calls into Tibet and coming out," he said.

The spokesman, based in Dharamsala, India, said Beijing officials had also stopped ordinary Tibetans from leaving China for Nepal and India.

He added that occasional protests by monks and nuns were continuing - even if they were quickly stopped by Chinese security forces.

Angry nuns

The Free Tibet Campaign said 54 nuns were arrested a few weeks ago after staging a protest in Garze County in Sichuan Province.

It said the nuns were angry because they were being forced to denounce the Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leader.

Renouncing the Dalai Lama - who lives in exile in India - appears part of a general re-education campaign being forced on monks and nuns.

One Tibetan monk, who lives at a monastery in southern Gansu Province, told the BBC he attended re-education sessions every other day.

"Communist Party officials talk to us about how to love our county [China]," he said.

The monk said the situation in his town was relatively calm, but the People's Armed Police was maintaining a visible presence.

"The police question and beat any Tibetan they want. I have seen this with my own eyes," he said.

Spokesman Thubten Samphel fears the Chinese are increasing the amount of repression - free from the prying eyes of outsiders.

Foreign reporters are banned from going to Tibet and other Tibetan areas, and there is no word on when that ban will be lifted.

Roadblocks

There are also roadblocks on highways leading into Tibet.

The Chinese crackdown follows unrest that began in Lhasa on 10 March.

Monks from several monasteries began a series of protests to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

These protest turned into riots, during which Tibetans targeted Han Chinese people who had moved into Lhasa.

China says 18 innocent civilians and one police officer died in the riots.

The Tibetan government-in-exile said about 250 died, most of whom were Tibetans killed in the ensuing crackdown.

Over the last couple of months, hundreds of Tibetans have been arrested, with the first batch of 30 tried and jailed earlier this month.

China said they received fair trials, but this is contested by Tibetans abroad and human rights organisations.

Even on this one issue, there is no agreement on the facts of what is currently going on in Tibet.

phayul.com

Tibetan activities vow to continue protests during Olympics

2008-06-03T14:51:00.001-07:00

Athens - Tibetan activists Tuesday urged the International Olympic Committee to cancel the Olympic torch relay in Tibet next week and said they would continue their protests during the Beijing Games.

The international network Students for a Free Tibet, which has disrupted the torch relay along the route from ancient Olympia to the rest of Europe, said it would continue to hold mass demonstrations around the globe, and probably in Beijing, during the August 8-24 event.

The torch relay is scheduled to travel to Tibet on June 19 and stay for three days but organizers said the Olympic flame would only end up spending one day in the capital, Lhasa.

"If the IOC board truly stand behind the universal values of Olympism then they should immediately withdraw authorization for China to take the Olympic torch through Tibet," Lhadon Tethong, head of the organization, told a news conference in Athens.

"In the unfortunate case the IOC will irresponsibly allow China to parade the torch through Tibet and the areas now under clampdown, they must at the very least take immediate measures to ensure that the international media be allowed access."

Organizers said they will also attempt to lobby International Olympic Committee officials during a three-day board meeting in Athens this week to select the candidate cities for the 2016 Olympics. The final decision will be in October 2009.

The group said the IOC had not put any pressure on China or its Olympic organizing committee BOCOG to improve the situation in Tibet, which it described as "critical."

China says 22 people died in anti-government violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa in March, while Tibet supporters say many more were killed in freedom protests.

phayul.com

More than 80 nuns detained after peaceful protests continue in Kham

2008-06-02T15:35:00.002-07:00

Tibetan nuns have taken a leading role in dissent in Kardze (Chinese: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan (the Tibetan area of Kham) with two further peaceful protests on Wednesday (May 28) and at least six more separate protests since more than 50 nuns were detained after a bold demonstration on May 14. More than 80 nuns have now been detained in the unrest in Kardze that has continued despite the severe 'anti-separatist' crackdown in Tibetan areas upheld even since the earthquake struck Sichuan on May 12 (www.savetibet.org/news/newsitem.php?id=1313). In an incident on Wednesday (May 28), a 21-year old female student, Rinchen (or Rigden) Lhamo, was fired upon and possibly injured in the leg by armed police after she unfurled the banned Tibetan 'snow lion' flag at the government headquarters in Kardze, according to an eyewitness report received by the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), and other Tibetan sources. Her whereabouts is now unknown.

Senior lama Phurbu Rinpoche, head of a nunnery in Kardze County where more than 50 nuns were detained after they protested against the repression that has followed the wave of protests in Tibetan areas since March 10 was detained on May 18 or 19. Two monks from a local monastery were later taken into custody after they held a protest about his arrest and calling for the Dalai Lama's return. The recent incidents in Kardze are part of a second wave of dissent since March 10 that appears to have been sparked by the authorities' heavy-handed response to acts of peaceful protest, and stringent 'patriotic education' campaigns that compel Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama.

On May 28, three nuns of Dragkar nunnery in Kardze County, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, staged a brief peaceful demonstration in the town market square and distributed leaflets before they were detained, according to Tibetan sources with contacts in the area. The nuns were identified by TCHRD as 26-year old Sangye Lhamo (pictured), 26 years old from Serchuteng Township, Kardze County; Tsewang Kando, 38, also from Serchuteng Township, and Yeshi Lhadon, 24, from Tsozhi village, Kardze County. A Tibetan source told ICT: "The tension heightens after each such protest, how small it may be. Word gets around and there is an increase in the number of troops in the area."

Approximately two hours later, 21-year old Rinchen Lhamo from Thingkha Township in Kardze left her college class during a break and, despite the heavy presence of police in the market square due to the nuns' earlier protest, she unfurled a Tibetan flag. The same Tibetan source, who has spoken to several Tibetans with contacts in the area, said: "She shouted 'May His Holiness the Dalai Lama live for thousands of years; His Holiness should be welcomed back to Tibet; freedom in Tibet; release political prisoners'. She shouted these slogans from the top of her lungs as if these are the last words she was going to utter." According to several sources, she appears to have been injured on the leg after security personnel opened fire. At least one eyewitness reported seeing blood on her body when she was taken away.

A Tibetan source who witnessed a protest in Kardze on March 18 told the Tibetan newspaper in exile Bod Kyi Bang Chen: "It could be that they [the protestors, particularly referring to the monks] could not take oppression any more. The fact that the Chinese are forcing Tibetans to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama everyday makes Tibetans put their lives on the line and protest." The same source reported that a nun in the area left behind a letter with her relative before joining a protest in Kardze, saying: "I cannot bear any longer the constant denunciation campaign against His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I cannot even concentrate on my prayers. I have 500 Yuan [US$72] - give away 50 to others and keep the rest for prayer after I die."

Since May 11, more than 80 nuns, two laypeople and two monks have been detained following at least six separate incidents of protest in different areas of Kardze.

The Dragkar nuns' protest on May 28 was the third incident of dissent by nuns from this nunnery in the last few weeks. Two Dragkar nuns, named by TCHRD as Sonam Lhamo and Thubten Dolma, were detained on May 11, after protesting against 'patriotic education'. The next day, a group of Dragkar nuns again protested against the Chinese authorities in Kardze and ten were detained, according to TCHRD and other Tibetan sources.

On May 14, around 55 nuns, whose names are known to ICT, from Pang Ri nunnery in Su-ngo township, Kardze County in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, staged a demonstration two days after the Sichuan earthquake. According to Tibetan sources, including TCHRD, the Pang Ri nuns protested on May 14 because of their distress and anger at the crackdown, detentions and disappearances that have followed peaceful protests in different areas of the Tibetan plateau. They were also angered by the implementation of the 'patriotic education' campaign by the Chinese authorities. There has been an intensification of this campaign since protests swept Tibet on March 10, and it has been particularly rigorous in areas where dissent has occurred.

According to TCHRD, the Pang Ri nuns vowed not to take part in any 'patriotic education' campaigns and said: "It is better to die than to denounce, criticize and attack the Dalai Lama, to sign official documents denouncing the Dalai Lama, if there is no place for us to worship and live, let us go somewhere else or die, if the Chinese authorities kill us, let us be killed, we have no regrets." (http://www.tchrd.org). On the afternoon of May 14, the nuns marched peacefully towards the Kardze County government headquarters chanting slogans including "Long live the Dalai Lama" and calling for the Dalai Lama to return to Tibet. They were detained as soon as they approached the building and taken away in police vehicles.

According to a Tibetan source in exile, "Police and soldiers responded violently to the protest and the nuns were arrested on the spot, many got severely beaten up and stains of blood were seen on the street, with nuns' robes and shoes scattered everywhere. The nuns were seen being taken away in trucks. People were too scared to pick up the nuns' robes for fear of being detained themselves."

Since the protest by the Pang Ri nuns, the crackdown has worsened in Kardze County. Even so, on May 23, two nuns in their twenties, Jampa Lhamo and Rigzen Wangdon, held a further protest, calling for the release of political prisoners, freedoms for Tibet, and a long life for the Dalai Lama, according to a Tibetan monk in exile. The two nuns, from Dhargay Hardu nunnery in Trehor, Kardze County, were detained.

Their protest follows the arrest of four nuns from Gesay Nunnery, also in Trehor, on May 22. The nuns, Bhumo Tengah, Rinchen Jamatsang, Jamgah Dolma and Pema, scattered leaflets which called for a free Tibet, long life for the Dalai Lama, his return to Tibet, and the release of all political prisoners, according to the same source. TCHRD reported that the four nuns staged their protest outside the county government headquarters, and that they were severely beaten after being detained.

Two days before, on May 20, three Tibetan nuns from Nyagay nunnery, also in Kardze County, made a protest calling for greater religious freedom, according to TCHRD, which named the nuns as Achoe, Soe Choekyi and Tashi Yangtso. The nuns had left their nunnery in the early hours of the morning in an attempt to avoid being stopped by security personnel on duty in the area en route to Kardze county town.

Four days after the demonstration by the more than 50 nuns from Pang Ri, a senior lama who was the head of the nunnery, Phurbu Rinpoche, was detained, according to Tibetan sources in exile who received information from the area. Phurbu Rinpoche, an incarnate lama of Trehor Kardze monastery who lives in Dragyab village, Kardze, was taken into custody at around 4:30 am on May 18 or 19, according to the same sources. His current whereabouts and welfare are unknown.

Phurbu Rinpoche is a deeply respected local figure known for his work in the community, including the building of a center for elderly people, and two pharmacies. In addition to Pang Ri, Phurbu Rinpoche is also the head of Ya-tseg nunnery, according to TCHRD. (http://www.tchrd.org/press/2008/pr20080517a.html).

Nuns ordered to raise Chinese flag

According to a further source from Kardze, prior to the protest of the nuns on May 14, the Chinese authorities had been enforcing the raising of Chinese flags at Pang Ri nunnery and Ya-tseg nunnery. The source said that after protests in March in Kardze: "Security personnel have ordered nuns to hoist a Chinese flag atop the nunnery; they have asked nuns to reveal the instigators and say that they are grateful of the Chinese government. Also, they always ask nuns to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In return, nuns have told officials that they cannot say that they are grateful of the Chinese government because for five years when nuns were not able to get enough financial backing to rebuild the nunnery, the government did not extend any help for their difficulty. As for the protests [in March], [they said] no one instigated any one, they all took part voluntarily." (Translation from Tibetan, the Tibet Express, Bod Kyi Bang Chen, May 28, 2008).

Two monks from a nearby monastery, Tsitsang, were taken into custody on May 20 after protesting against Phurbu Rinpoche's detention, according to TCHRD. The two monks, identified by TCHRD as Loyang and Tenzin Ngodup, shouted slogans calling for the Dalai Lama's return and the release of political prisoners, including Phurbu Rinpoche, in front of a county government building before being detained.

Sources from Tibet also reported that nuns from Ganden Choeling nunnery in Kardze protested on May 14, leading to the arrest of six nuns and one layperson.

As of March 17, Kardze County had more known Tibetan political detainees than any other county outside of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, according to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC)(http://www.cecc.gov). 'Patriotic education' was stepped up in Kardze earlier this year, even before the recent protests. Citing an official article in the Ganzi Daily, the CECC reported that on January 8, 2008, authorities began a pilot program which utilizes "propaganda and cultural service kits" and "mobile propaganda banners" in select county villages aimed at increasing anti-separatism and 'patriotic education' initiatives. http://www.cecc.gov/pages/virtualAcad/index.phpd?showsing...

Mary Beth Markey, Vice President for Advocacy of the International Campaign for Tibet, said: "Political restrictions were in place at Kardze even before the recent crackdown, making the personal risks taken by the nuns in protesting at this time all the more remarkable. If Chinese hardliners ever believed that making the veneration of the Dalai Lama an outlawed political act would sever the bond between the Tibetan people and their lama, then the nature of the protests in Tibet this spring continues to prove them wrong."

Eyewitness testimony of March 18 protest in Kardze

An eyewitness source told the Tibetan newspaper Bod Kyi Bang Chen about the aftermath of a demonstration in Kardze on March 18. He said: 'Initially [on that day] ten monks protested in Kardze County [town], followed by three nuns and a young man named Sergah.

The protest had just happened when I reached the market, and Chinese police were disposing of small pieces of paper that were scattered everywhere. I did not see what was written on the paper, but others told me that the words on the paper read: 'His Holiness the Dalai Lama must be welcomed back to Tibet soon.' Police had sealed off the area, but blood stains were still visible on the street. They say it belonged to the young man, Sergah. The three nuns and Sergah were beaten to the point where they couldn't move and than thrown on to a truck as if they were bags of luggage - it is difficult to tell whether they were alive nor not. In the crackdown, police kicked the heads of monks and other protestors [who were on the ground] and plastic bags were shoved in their mouths to gag them.

"Since then, 10 to twenty armed soldiers roam in the street everyday. Aside from guns, they carry other weapons to quell or control people. When they happen to come across a group of monks or nuns they immediately become suspicious and point guns at them." (Translated from Tibetan, Bod Kyi Bang Chen, May 28, 2008).

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