The stories below personify the day-to-day repression and hardship endured by Tibetans in their homeland. From advocating for environmental protection to calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, each have risen above fear and intimidation to give voice to their fellow Tibetans.

The NGO Worker: Wangdu
The Monk: Jigme Guri
The Nun: Sangye Lhamo
The Community Builder: Tenzin Delek Rinpoche
The Nomad: Runggye Adak
The Filmmaker: Dhondup Wangchen





Wangdu, 41, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment is a former Jokhang monk from Dechen Township, Taktse County, around 25 kilometers east of Lhasa. He previously served eight years in prison after detention on 8 March 1989, the day martial law took effect in Lhasa after three days of protest and rioting. His three-year sentence to “reform through labor” was extended to eight years imprisonment after he and 10 other political prisoners signed a petition stating that the 1951 17-Point Agreement was forced on an independent Tibet. According to the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, Wangdu was detained again on 14 March, the day protests and rioting erupted in Lhasa after four days of various demonstrations to mark the anniversary of the 10 March 1959 Uprising.

Wangdu, who speaks fluent Chinese and once worked as a guide for Chinese tourists at the Jokhang, is still listed as a member of staff on the website of the Melbourne-based Burnet Institute, one of the leading medical research and public health institutes in Australia. Wangdu worked on the HIV Prevention in Lhasa Project which commenced in 2001 with AusAID and Burnet Institute funding and aimed to develop resources to be used to educate Tibetans about HIV.

A former political prisoner who shared a cell in Tibet Autonomous Region Prison (Drapchi) and carried out labor with Wangdu in the prison’s greenhouses during his previous sentence told ICT:
?During that time in prison [the early 1990s] I became very close to [Wangdu] and he started learning English with me from [another prisoner]. He is such an open-minded, talented, easy-going guy and got on really well with other prisoners while he was in Drapchi. He is very good at Tibetan literature and painting and Chinese language as well. He used to worry about the new generation in Tibet because they are losing their culture and their language, and he often criticized people for not being interested in anything other than money. The last time I saw him, when we said goodbye to each other, I was very sad.?

UPDATE: 5 May 2009 Jigme Guri Released

Jigme Guri (also known as Jigme Gyatso), 42, is a monk at Labrang monastery in Amdo (Ch: Gansu Province). He did not participate in the mass protests at Labrang on 14 March 2008, but was detained by authorities on 22 March. After his release and two months in hospital, he made a remarkable and incredibly courageous video statement to Voice of America, in which he showed his face and disclosed his full name. The statement, first broadcast on VOA on 3 September 2008, described the extreme torture and mistreatment Jigme experienced in detention as well as his views on China’s devastating policies in Tibet and a possible resolution. He then went into hiding for several weeks before returning to his monastery, where he was detained again on 4 November 2008. He is being held in an unknown location in Lanzhou. There are serious fears for his welfare after he endured severe torture earlier this year.

Sangye Lhamo, 26, is a nun at Dragkar nunnery in Kardze County, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Kham (Ch: Sichuan province). She demonstrated with two other nuns, Tsewang Kando and Yeshi Lhadon, in the market square of Kardze Town, shouting slogans and distributing leaflets calling for Tibet’s independence. Approximately two hours later, Rinchen Lhamo, a student, left her class during a break and, despite the heavy presence of police in the market square due to the nuns’ earlier protest, unfurled a Tibetan flag and shouted slogans. According to several sources, she was injured after security personnel opened fire, before she was detained.

According to the International Campaign for Tibet, Tibetan nuns took a leading role in dissent in Kardze Prefecture in May 2008, part of a “second wave” of protests that appeared to be in response to the harsh reaction to earlier acts of peaceful protests and stringent ‘patriotic education’ campaigns that compel Tibetans to denounce the Dalai Lama. By June, more than 80 nuns had been detained.

The risks taken by Sangye, Tsewang, Yeshi and Rinchen were even more remarkable considering the crackdown that was already underway in Kardze at the time. It also underscores the futility of Chinese efforts to increase control over Tibetans by forcing them to denounce the Dalai Lama.

Sangye Lhamo is from Serchuteng Township, Kardze County. Sangye is also the niece of Australian-Tibetan Geshe Sonam Thargye who runs the Drol Kar Buddhist Centre near Geelong, Victoria.

UPDATE - 23 April 2009:
Geshe Sonam Thargye has received news that Pema Yangtso, Sangye Lhamo’s cousin has also been arrested. Pema Yangtso staged a protest at a Chinese Army barracks near Ganzi on 21 March 2009. She was detained using an electric shock baton and was unconscious when arrested. Her whereabouts are unknown.

Sangye Lhamo has been located in a jail two days journey from her home village and nunnery. She has been sentenced to two years imprisonment for her peaceful protest. She has been visited by friends and is thought to be in reasonable health. However, she is forced to work all day and well into the night.

TAKE ACTION: Email Foreign Minister Stephen Smith on behalf of Sangye Lhamo and Pema Yangtso.

JUNE 2010 UPDATE: Last year, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche told a community member who visited him in prison, “I am not guilty, please appeal for justice for me …call all people together and do everything possible to help me overturn the verdict”. In a remarkable act of support, 40,000 Tibetans in his community signed petitions - many signatures being in the form of thumbprints - demanding justice for their leader.

The International Tibet Support Network replicated the Tibetan petition by collecting virtual ‘thumbprints’ online and on the streets around the world to show the level of international concern for Tenzin Delek Rinpoche.

On 16 June 2010 the International Tibet Support Movement delivered the petition of over 40,000 signatures to China’s Ministry of Public Security.

As part of the international day of action, Simon Bradshaw on behalf of the Australia Tibet Council and Mr Sonam Dagpo, the Dalai Lama’s Representative from the Tibet Information Office, delivered a letter to the Chair of the Human Rights Subcommittee in Canberra urging that further representations be made by the Australian Government on Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s behalf.

BACKGROUND
Tenzin Delek Rinpoche (born in 1950) is a religious leader and advocate for Tibetans from Lithang, Kham (Ch: Kardze (Ganzi) Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan). For years, he worked to develop social, medical, educational and religious institutions for Tibetan nomads in the area, as an advocate for environmental conservation in the face of indiscriminate logging and mining projects, and as a mediator between Tibetans and Chinese. Because of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s influence in his community and his efforts to preserve Tibetan identity, the Chinese authorities viewed him as a threat to their control in the region. Over the course of a decade, he was the target of increasing harassment and intimidation by Chinese officials.

In April 2002, the Chinese authorities in Lithang, eastern Tibet, arrested Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and his distant relative Lobsang Dhondup, a former monk. Both were accused of involvement in bombings and explosions. On 2 December 2002, Lobsang Dhondup was sentenced to immediate death, and Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was sentenced to death with a suspension of two years. Lobsang Dhondup was executed shortly afterwards, and after intense international pressure, Tenzin Delek’s sentence was commuted to a life sentence on 26 January 2005.

According to Human Rights Watch, Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s case ?was the culmination of a decade-long effort by Chinese authorities to curb his efforts to foster Tibetan Buddhism, his support for the Dalai Lama as a religious leader, and his work to develop Tibetan social and cultural institutions. His efforts had become a focal point for Tibetans struggling to retain their cultural identity in the face of China’s restrictive policies and its continuing persecution of individuals attempting to push the accepted boundaries of cultural and social expression.?

In Tenzin Delek Rinpoche’s own words:
“Since I am a Tibetan, I have always been sincere and devoted to the interests and well-being of Tibetan people. That is the real reason why the Chinese do not like me and framed me. That is why they are going to take my precious life even though I am innocent.”

Recently, I was called to the Religious Affairs Bureau and the United Front Work Department. ? They told me, ?You cannot have photos of the 14th Dalai Lama, the young Panchen Lama, or pictures of yourself.? And they said, ?The pictures are getting bigger, and bigger, and bigger, and you cannot do that. And you cannot have a lama’s title.? I told them that ? I did not need the title of lama; I did not need the title of monk, but I did need the rights of a human being.”

Runggye Adak, 54, is a Tibetan nomad from Lithang, Kham (Ch: Sichuan) who was detained on 1 August 2007 after calling for the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet. Adak stepped on stage at a Chinese government function commemorating the 80th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army and spoke to a crowd of several thousand Tibetans who had gathered for the annual Lithang horse-racing festival. Before he was detained, he also called for the release of the Panchen Lama and Tenzin Delek Rinpoche. Tenzin Delek, a revered Buddhist teacher and community leader also from Lithang, is currently serving a life sentence for crimes he did not commit.

Runggye Adak was later sentenced to eight years for “provocation to subvert state power.? According to the International Campaign for Tibet, Adak’s nephew, Adak Lupoe, a senior monk from Lithang monastery, received a sentence of ten years, and Tibetan art teacher and musician Kunkhyen one of nine years, both for attempting to provide pictures and information to ‘overseas organizations’ which were judged to ‘endanger national security’. A fourth Tibetan, Jarib Lothog, was sentenced to three years linked to the same case.

An eyewitness described the protest to the International Campaign for Tibet:
“It all happened so fast - Runggye Adak just came onstage and started speaking. Although his voice did not carry very far, because it could have been that they switched the microphone off, I could see Tibetans nodding their heads about what he was saying about the Dalai Lama and freedom. Quite a few people were cheering him. Then a few men came up onto the stage, and it seemed to me that they could have been Tibetans trying to help him, trying to get him offstage so he wouldn’t be in more trouble. But then uniformed officers arrived and I could see them moving through the crowd quickly towards the stage. Many Tibetans tried to block their way to prevent him reaching Runggye Adak, but they had no chance. Quite a lot of people followed him when they took him away, and other people around me were saying how scared they were about his fate.”

UPDATED 21 May 2010: Dhondup Wangchen transferred to labour camp
News has emerged that Dhondup Wangchen has been transferred from his previous detention centre in Xining to a labor camp. Dhondup Wangchen’s family, who live in exile, have learned that he was transferred to Xichuan Prison (a labour camp in Qinghai Province) in April 2010. It is assumed that an appeal against his sentence was refused or has failed. According to the Washington DC based Laogai Research Foundation, Xichuan Prison is a labour camp that manufactures aluminum alloy windows, ordinary bricks, porous and hollow bricks and sinter concrete blocks.

TAKE ACTION: Please send an email to Qiang Wei, Party Secretary of Qinghai Province, urging for Dhondup’s immediate release

UPDATED 28 December 2009: Dhondup Wangchen given 6 year prison sentence
Sources in Tibet have reported that Tibetan filmmaker, Dhondup Wangchen, was sentenced to six years in prison on 28 December 2009. Wangchen was arrested for making “Leaving Fear Behind,” a remarkable documentary that captures the true feelings of Tibetans inside Tibet about life under Chinese rule, the Dalai Lama, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His trial was held in secret and he was denied a lawyer of his choosing and instead was represented by a court-appointed lawyer.

BACKGROUND
Dhondup Wangchen is the filmmaker of ‘Leaving Fear Behind’, a remarkable documentary that gives a rare glimpse of the thoughts, feelings, and struggles of Tibetans living under occupation. The footage for the film was smuggled out of Tibet in early March 2008. Dhondup and his cameraman, Jigme Gyatso were fully aware of the risks they took in not concealing their identities, but wanted to speak out openly about the situation in Tibet. In order for the film to be made, fear truly had to be set aside. Dhondup Wangchen was detained on 26 March 2008 in Siling in eastern Tibet (Ch: Xining, Qinghai Province). Jigme Gyatso was also detained in late March 2008 but released “temporarily” in October 2008. Dhondup Wangchen is reportedly being held without charge at Ershilipu Detention Center in Xining Kachu town (Ch: Linxia, Gansu Province). Wangchen was born on 17 October 1974 in Hualong, Haidong, Qinghai Province.

In his own words:
At a time of great difficulty and a feeling of helplessness, [the idea of our film is to] get some meaningful response and results. It is very difficult [for Tibetans] to go to Beijing and speak out there. So that is why we decided to show the real feelings of Tibetans inside Tibet through this film.

UPDATE - 17 July 2009:
Dhondup Wangchen is in poor health, suffering from Hepatitis B, and has not been allowed visitors. According to his wife, who lives in exile, he is not receiving any medical treatment. There is particular concern for his welfare as he may soon be tried, and is not allowed to be represented by the lawyer of his choice, Chinese lawyer Li Dunyong from the Beijing Gongxin law firm.

Li Dunyong is said to believe that Dhondup Wangchen’s actions in making the film do not constitute a crime under Chinese law.

Dhondup Wangchen is currently being held in Xining detention center in the provincial capital of Qinghai, and has not been allowed visitors. Li Dunyong was among 21 lawyers who signed a petition last year following the protests in Tibet that began in March publicly stating his willingness to offer legal assistance to Tibetans who had been detained. According to a Chinese-language blog site, Li Dunyong traveled to Xining to meet Dhondup Wangchen, but is now being blocked by the Qinghai Justice Bureau and legal authorities in Beijing from taking on the case.

Read more about the Chinese authorities’ crackdown on lawyers and the concerns for Dhondup Wangchen