2 December 2011

Tibetans in eastern Tibet are taking the most desperate action to cry out to the world for help. 46-year-old Tenzin Phuntsog set himself on fire yesterday in Chamdo; the first to immolate in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). There have been twelve instances of self-immolations by Tibetans since March. The Australian government in October raised concerns over the spate of self-immolations with the Chinese authorities in Canberra and in Beijing.

It is time to raise the stakes for Tibet. Australia must join world governments to collectively pressure China to end its repression in Tibet once and for all.

Send an urgent message to Gillard urging her to take swift, multi-lateral action to end the crisis in Tibet

28 September 2011

Lobsang Kelsang is a relative of Phuntsok, a 21-year old monk also from Kirti monastery who died after self-immolating in March. During the protest the two monks waved the Tibetan national flag and shouted slogans calling for religious freedom in Tibet and “long live the Dalai Lama”. China’s state media claims they both survived but this cannot be confirmed. Send an urgent message to Liu Qibao, Sichuan Party Secretary.

8 September 2011

The health of Lobsang Tenzin, Tibet’s longest-serving political prisoner, has deteriorated to a critical level.

Please sign a petition to the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Party Secretary, Chen Quanguo, and to Chushur Prison’s Governor, calling for Lobsang Tenzin to receive immediate medical attention and to be released.

Lobsang Tenzin has been in prison for 23 years. According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy he is suffering from severe diabetes, causing occasional blindness. Lobsang Tenzin is currently being held in Chushur (Ch: Qushui) Prison in the Tibet Autonomous Region. A student at Tibet University at the time of his arrest during protests in March 1988, he was charged, along with five other Tibetans, in connection with the death of a policeman. Initially sentenced to death, Lobsang Tenzin’s sentence was then commuted to life imprisonment following international pressure. He has remained politically active in prison, organising protests at his former place of detention, Drapchi Prison, and attempting to pass a letter to visiting US Ambassador James Lilley.

8 September 2011

On 20 August 2011 Jigme Guri, a senior monk from Labrang Monastery in Amdo (Ch: Gansu), was arrested for the fourth time in five years. His current whereabouts are unknown.

Email Gansu’s Party Secretary Lu Hao, demanding the release of Jigme Guri.

Outspoken and courageous, “Labrang Jigme” was first detained in March 2008 following protests staged by fellow monks at Labrang Monastery. He was held for 42 days, during which time he was beaten unconscious. Upon his release he recorded a powerful video statement about his arrest, torture and the wider crackdown in Tibet. The video was uploaded to YouTube and Jigme Guri went into hiding for several weeks. On returning to his monastery he was again detained and held for six months without charge.

A Tibetan political prisoner, serving an 18-year sentence for acts of peaceful resistance, is critically ill in Chusur (Chinese: Qushui) prison near Lhasa in Tibet.

Jigme Gyatso is a former monk from Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province and was originally sentenced to 15 years in 1996 for “counter-revolutionary” activities. His sentence was extended by 3 years in 2004 after shouting slogans in support of the Dalai Lama while at Drapchi Prison in Lhasa.

Send an appeal to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Juan Mendez, to call for Gyatso’s urgent release on medical grounds.

Fears for Gyatso’s life were raised after he met with the then UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Manfred Nowak, during an official prison visit in November 2005. Dr Nowak subsequently called for his release and stated in his report: “Since he has been convicted of a political crime, possibly on the basis of information extracted by torture, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the [Chinese] Government that he be released”.

Gyatso faced severe torture for speaking to the UN official and was hospitalised for several weeks in 2006.

Gyatso’s release date is 30 March, 2014. A recent news report from the Tibetan government in exile stated that Gyatso’s “survival is at stake due to his debilitating condition”. Click here to read report.

International Campaign for Tibet has also issued a detailed report titled Fears for the life of Tibetan political prisoner tortured after speaking to UN Rapporteur.