Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Appendices to the Minutes of Evidence


Annex 2

REPERCUSSIONS OF PRISON VISITS IN TIBET BY INTERNATIONAL DELEGATIONS

  There have been more than 50 visits of official international delegations to Tibet since the early 1990s. Many of these delegations have been allowed access to the Tibet Autonomous Region's Number One prison, Drapchi in Lhasa. It has not been possible for these delegations to ensure the safety of prisoners following their departure from the prison, despite official assurances. In most cases, we do not know if people who have spoken to members of foreign delegations have been punished. However, in a number of cases involving visits to the main prison in Lhasa, there has been information about the consequences of official visits as follows:

    1.  In April 1991 five prisoners attempted to pass a letter about prison conditions to James Lilley, then the US Ambassador to China, while he was visiting Drapchi Prison in Lhasa. The Ambassador accepted the letter but then allowed a Chinese interpreter to take it from him. After his departure the prisoners were severely beaten and removed for the rest of their sentences to a prison 350 kms away. The incident led to about 30 other prisoners also being beaten, some of them severely, and being placed in solitary confinement for about one month each.

    2.  In December 1991 at the same prison an elderly Tibetan tried to shout to the Swiss Ambassador to China, while he was leaving the main prison in Lhasa. The Ambassador was aware of the incident and later enquired about the welfare of the prisoner. The prisoner, Tanak Jigme Zangpo, was beaten, tortured and later received an eight year sentence extension for the incident. Jigme Zangpo (Tanak is a family name) was subjected to severe beatings in 1998 following his involvement in the May 1998 prison protests at Drapchi.

    3.  In October 1997 a Tibetan prisoner shouted a pro-independence slogan during the visit to Drapchi prison by members of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Two other prisoners were said to be involved in subsequent protests at the prison. The delegation sought guarantees from the prison authorities that the Tibetans would not be punished for the incidents. TIN later received the information that the three men had their prison sentences extended by between three and 10 years for the incident, despite the UNWGAD appeals.

    4.  Severe reprisals were meted out to political and criminal prisoners for their participation in peaceful protests at Drapchi prison on 1 and 4 May 1998, which led to the deaths of at least nine prisoners. The protests began when a prisoner, who is now said to have been executed, shouted a pro-independence slogan during a meeting held in Drapchi prison in preparation for a visit to the prison by a group of Beijing-based ambassadors of European Union countries to China. People's Armed Police personnel equipped with rifles and batons were called into the prison after this demonstration. A second protest on 4 May, the same day as the visit of the EU delegation, was suppressed by prison guards and PAP personnel who were stationed inside the prison compound. The ambassadors reported that they were not aware of any increased security at the prison during their visit.


 
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Prepared 29 November 2000