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Download the Tenzin Delek Campaign Action
On 2 December 2002, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a Buddhist lama, was sentenced to death by the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Intermediate People’s court with a two-year reprieve, after being detained on 7 April 2002.
He was charged with “causing explosions and inciting the separation of the state.” Lobsang Dhondup, his distant relative and alleged co-conspirator was found guilty by the same court and executed on 26 January 2003 after a secret re-trial. On 26 January 2005, Tenzin Delek’s controversial death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. However, the case has yet to be resolved justly.
More than 80 other local Tibetans were detained, held for questioning or imprisoned in connection with this case.
After Tenzin Delek’s arrest and sentencing, his home area of Lithang saw a wave of increased repression and intimidation by local authorities. Any individual connected to Rinpoche or suspected of trying to help him or communicate information on his case to the outside world was in danger of arrest and imprisonment.
In mid-February, 2004, it became known that Tenzin Delek is imprisoned in Chuandong prison in Sichuan province, a high security prison where Chadrel Rinpoche, who was arrested in connection with Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama, was also held. No details of Tenzin Delek’s current condition are known.
International governments and human rights monitoring agencies believe that Tenzin Delek was arrested and sentenced on false and fabricated charges as a manoeuvre by local authorities to remove a man who had gained increasing popularity, respect and influence in his area, both among Tibetans and Chinese. His tireless dedication to the welfare of his local community, his knowledge of his rights under Chinese law and his willingness to defy orders by local and corrupt government officials gained him both the admiration and respect of his community as well as the ire and resentment of local officials. Perhaps as part of a larger crackdown on influential Buddhist leaders in Eastern Tibet, Tenzin Delek became the target of a campaign to eliminate local community leaders who may stand in the way of government efforts.
On 26 January 2005, Tenzin Delek’s controversial death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. However, the case has yet to be resolved justly.
Human Rights Watch documented the irregularities surrounding Tenzin Delek’s arrest and conviction in its February 2004 report, Trials of a Tibetan Monk.
The Australia Tibet Council calls for the immediate release of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and urges governments to explicitly raise his case and that of other Tibetan political prisoners with the Chinese authorities.
Download the Tenzin Delek Rinpoche Campaign Action |
