Annex 3
SENTENCE EXTENSIONS AND SHOOTING INCIDENT
AT DRAPCHI: CONFIRMATION OF REPRISALS FOR MAY 1998 PROTESTS
New information has reached TIN about the shooting
of a monk and the sentence extensions imposed on six political
prisoners following the May 1998 protests at Drapchi prison in
Lhasa. An eyewitness report describes the severe reprisals meted
out to political and criminal prisoners for their participation
in the peaceful protests, which led to the deaths of at least
nine prisoners. It has taken up to 19 months for this information
to reach TIN due to the measures taken by the Tibetan authorities
to prevent news of the protests and their repercussions reaching
the outside world. The authorities regard the free flow of information
about human rights abuses as "endangering state security".
The report, by a Tibetan who has now left Tibet,
describes how People's Armed Police (PAP) personnel, equipped
with rifles and batons, were called into the prison after the
first demonstration of 1 May 1998, when political and criminal
prisoners were assembled in the prison courtyard for a flag raising
ceremony. A second protest on 4 May, the same day as the visit
of a European Union human rights fact-finding delegation to the
prison, was swiftly suppressed by prison guards and PAP personnel
who were stationed inside the prison compound. Every prisoner
who had taken part in the protests and many who had not were severely
beaten and confined to their cells. The report confirms the deaths
of two monks from Ganden monastery, 28-year old Lobsang Wangchug
and 26-year old Khedrub, which were reported by TIN last year.
It also confirms the death of 22-year old Lobsang Choephel from
Khangmar monastery. Lobsang Choephel, who was arrested in 1995
and was serving a five year sentence, committed suicide a week
after the 4 May protest, according to the report. A monk from
Lo monastery in Taktse county, 25-year old Thubten Kalsang, is
reported to be a "decrepit wreck" after he was singled
out for particularly severe beatings.
Ngawang Sungrab, a Drepung monk in his early
thirties from Lhundrub county in Lhasa municipality, was shot
by a prison guard on 4 May 1998 following the second protest at
the prison, officially known as "Tibet Autonomous Region
(TAR) Prison No 1". On 4 May, when prisoners were assembled
in the courtyard for a second flag-raising ceremony, Lobsang Geleg,
a monk from Khangmar monastery, reportedly began to shout slogans
such as "Tibet is independent" and "China has no
right to hoist the flag on our territory". Other prisoners
joined in the slogan shouting. They were beaten and forced to
return to their cells by PAP personnel who have been stationed
inside the compound after the 1 May protest. At a few minutes
after midday, according to the source, longer-serving prisoners,
who have been excluded from the ceremony and confined to their
cell block became aware of what was happening and reportedly rushed
to one of the prison gates and may have attempted to breach the
gate when a prison guard opened fire. Ngawang Sungrab, whose lay
name is Dawa Tsering and who was serving a 10 year sentence, was
hit by a bullet in his abdomen. The Tibetan source states that
the prisoners retreated from the gate and some of them began to
bandage Ngawang Sungrab's wounds with their neck-cloths. One monk
(whose name has been withheld) ripped off the lining of a quilt
and tried to bandage the bullet wound. Ngawang Sungrab was then
taken to hospital by the PAP. The sentence of the monk who had
helped him was due to expire two months after the demonstration
and it is not known whether he has been released. Reports that
Lobsang Geleg, who started the 4 May protest, died following beatings
could not be confirmed. He had been due for release in April this
year.
Two monks from Phenpo, Ngawang Dorje and Dawa,
were said by the source to have been taken away from Drapchi soon
after the shooting of Ngawang Sungrab. The current whereabouts
of Dawa of Langthang monastery (sometimes referred to as Langdar
monastery) in the Phenpo area of Lhundrub, and Ngawang Dorje from
Phenpo Gonsar monastery are not known.
A squad of about 12 People's Armed Police reportedly
entered the cell blocks on the evening of 4 May and carried out
systematic interrogations and beatings of prisoners using a variety
of weapons including electric shock batons and rubber pipes. According
to the same Tibetan source, the monk Thubten Kalsang, who was
reportedly due for release from a six-year sentence just over
a week after the protests, was treated particularly severely.
"[He] was beaten up by the gang of 12 soldiers that evening.
They stamped on his crumpled body and beat him repeatedly with
their batons for nearly half an hour," the source told TIN.
According to the report, Thubten Kalsang was interrogated once
again the following morning, on this occasion in the prison guard's
office outside the prison, where his interrogation was interspersed
with frequent beatings which lasted for nearly two hours. The
report to TIN states: "Six prison guards delivered the beatings.
One of them ordered him to fall down on his knees, another held
him by his head. The other four [guards] started beating him with
electric batons and iron rods until he fell down unconscious.
The severe beatings caused him to involuntarily urinate and defecate
in his trousers . . . When he tried to return to his cell, he
had to support himself against the wall and fell down repeatedly.
The guards would not allow other prisoners to help him, so he
had to struggle all the way back to his cell unsupported."
Thubten Kalsang was reportedly released on 15 May 1998 and is
now at home. His health has not improved since his release and
the same source states that he is now a "decrepit wreck .
. . staying at home in Tagtse, awaiting his impending death."
The prisoners who were called to attend the
second flag raising ceremony on 4 May appear to have included
political prisoners from the newer prison units in Drapchi. These
were created after the division of the two units for female and
male political prisoners (units three and five) into four units
in early 1998 (unit three was split into units six and seven and
unit five into units eight and nine). This latest report indicates
that the division of these units separated "long serving"
political prisoners (those with longer sentences who had engaged
in political activities and are therefore viewed as more dangerous
by the authorities) from the other political prisoners, who were
moved to new cell block accommodation. The protests in May 1998
indicate that the authorities had failed in their aim to control
and manage political prisoners by keeping them from being part
of a single administration within the cell-blocks.
Isolation of prisoners and sentence extensions
following May protests.
The 1 May demonstration at the prison last year
began when political and criminal prisoners were gathered together
in the prison courtyard for a flag raising ceremony to celebrate
socialist Labour Day. Nearly 900 prisoners were required to line
up in the main parade ground for the ceremony and to sing a Communist
Party song, "Socialism is good!" according to the Tibetan
source. When the authorities began to raise the red flag, two
criminal prisoners began to scatter printed slogans which they
appear to have concealed in their clothes. These two prisoners
may have been Karma Dawa and Karma Sonam. Karma Dawa was reportedly
executed soon after the protest. Political prisoners present at
the ceremony then began to shout pro-independence slogans. The
prison authorities appear to have had only a normal contingent
of prison guards providing security for the ceremony. PAP personnel
were then summoned from outside the prison and began to beat prisoners
and to force them back into their cells.
As a result of the May protests, prisoners were
confined to their cells for over a year, from May 1998 to July
1999, with items such as books, pens and paper confiscated, according
to the same source. Prisoners were allowed to retain only one
set of bedding and one set of clothing. "For a period of
14 months, the prisoners did not have any change of clothing,
and they were left without so much as the basic facilities for
a morning wash," the source reported to TIN. Other reports
have confirmed that prisoners remained isolated and were not allowed
to see visitors following the May protests. There are also unconfirmed
reports that at least two Tibetan prisoners from Drapchi, 26-year
old Ganden monk Lobsang Lungtog, arrested in 1992 and serving
seven or eight years and layperson Phuntsog Wangchug a student
originally from Chonggye county, Lhoka prefecture, serving five
years, may have been transferred to Powo Tramo prison in Pome
county, Kongpo prefecture, officially known as TAR Prison No 2.
Sentence extensions were reportedly imposed
on six monks imprisoned at Drapchi, as a result of the May 1998
protests. Twenty-three year old Hab Sang, a monk at Gonsar monastery,
originally from Phenpo, Lhundrub county, detained in 1995 and
serving five years, had his sentence extended by four years. Pasang
(whose religious name is Tenzin Jigme) and Norbu Phuntsog (religious
name Ngawang Kalsang), two 22-year old monks of Taglung monastery
arrested in February 1995, received sentence extensions of three
years in addition to their original sentences of five years and
are now due for release in 2003. Thirty-seven year old Migmar
(religious name Phuntsog Rigchog) and 23 year old Kalsang Phuntsog
(religious name Ngawang Namgyal), both monks from Nyethang Tashigang
monastery, were sentenced to six years following their arrest
in May 1994 and had their sentences extended by four years in
1998. They are now due for release in 2004.
The sixth monk, 24 year old Wangdu (lay name
Ngawang Oebar) from Tagtse county, a monk from Sang Ngag monastery,
arrested in 1994 and sentenced to four years, had his sentence
doubled after the May protests. He had been due for release in
December 1998. Of the 16 people that the new source reports to
have died, been seriously injured or received sentence extensions
following the May protests, at least seven had been due for release
within a year of their participation in the demonstrations.
A number of previous incidents of dissent in
Lhasa prisons have been punished by the extension of prisoners'
sentences. In June 1993, 14 nuns were given sentence extensions
ranging from three to seven years after they smuggled a tape recording
of songs out of the prison. At least six of the 11 or more male
prisoners who protested in Sangyib prison on 20 May 1991 about
the impending 40th anniversary of the "Seventeen Point agreement",
signed by Chinese and Tibetan representatives on 23 May 1951,
received sentence extensions ranging from three years to five
or six years. Ngawang Sangdrol, who is currently serving a total
prison sentence of 21 years (making her sentence the longest known
of all female Tibetan political prisoners), received the third
extension to her sentence in October 1998. This is believed to
have been linked to the May 1998 Drapchi demonstrations and also
to further individual protests that she staged in the prison later
the same year.
DEATHS AT
DRAPCHI FOLLOWING
THE PROTESTS
The report received by TIN provides further
confirmation of the deaths of 28-year old Ganden monk Ngawang
Tenkyong (lay name: Lobsang Wangchug), Ganden monk Khedrub, 26,
from Meldro Gongkar, and 22-year old Lobsang Choephel from Khangmar
monastery. Lobsang Wangchug was arrested on 22 May 1996 and was
serving a 12 year sentence. Khedrub, also from Ganden, was serving
five years following his detention in July 1997. He reportedly
died on 23 May 1998. Lobsang Choephel was arrested in February
1995 and was serving five years in Drapchi. On 12 May 1998, he
reportedly committed suicide in his cell.
Five nuns, all in their twenties, are also reported
to have died following the May protests. The identities of five
of the nuns, all found dead in their cells at Drapchi prison on
7 June 1998, have been confirmed by various reports as Khedron
Yonten, Tashi Lhamo and Dekyi Yangzom of Nyemo county and Lobsang
Wangmo and Tsultrim Zangmo (aka Ngawang Kunsang or Choekyi) of
the Lhundrub Phenpo area of the TAR. No official explanation has
been given for the deaths of these nuns, whose bodies were said
to be bloated and their faces bruised when they were found. The
prison authorities reportedly stated that their deaths were due
to suicide.
The British government, which held the EU presidency
at the time of the human rights fact finding visit to Drapchi
prison on the morning of 4 May 1998, said that the Chinese government
had not admitted that any deaths took place at Drapchi despite
the ongoing bilateral dialogue on human rights between China and
Britain. A British foreign office spokesperson said today: "We
have pressed for details of prisoners killed in the riots and
whether an investigation has taken place. The Chinese have so
far failed to give a satisfactory response. We will continue to
raise our concern about the manner in which the riots were handled."
In August 1998, officials in the Justice Bureau in Lhasa admitted
to a visiting delegation of politicians from the European Democratic
Union that prisoners began to shout slogans including "Free
Tibet!" and "Long Live the Dalai Lama" during a
flag raising ceremony on 1 May 1998. According to the Justice
Bureau, prison guards were so frightened that they fired guns
into the air to "attract the attention of policemen outside
the prison". They denied TIN reports that at least 10 Tibetans
died as a result of the protests. This has been the only substantial
response the Chinese authorities have given for the incidents
to Western governments, which raised the issue with Chinese officials
three months after the protests occurred on 1 and 4 May.
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