New information about Tibetan political prisoners, including news about sentence reductions and releases, has reached Tibet Information Network. According to the Dui Hua Foundation, based in San Francisco, Chinese officials have provided responses about a substantial number of political prisoners in China, including thirteen Tibetans. All of the Tibetans except one were convicted for committing crimes of “counterrevolution” (if sentencing was under the old Criminal Law), or for “endangering state security” (if sentencing was under the revised Criminal Law that became effective in 1997). Under China’s constitution and law, peaceful expression that questions or challenges the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is forbidden and may be punished as a crime against the state.
John Kamm, the Executive Director of Dui Hua, described the response as “unprecedented.” Not only did China provide information about prisoners in reply to formal requests from officials of other governments, but also about prisoners whom Kamm said had been unknown. The responses are not detailed and provide a mix of new and previously disclosed information. Eleven of the Tibetans are residents of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) and two live in Qinghai province. All of the Tibetans in the TAR are, or were, imprisoned in TAR Prison, also known as Drapchi.
Three female Tibetan political prisoners received sentence reductions in 2004. Two of them have been released. Thatso (Chin:Dacuo) and Thongtso (Chin:Tongcuo), who arrived in TAR Prison’s ‘Old Rukhag 3’ in October 2002, according to former prisoner Ngawang Sangdrol, were sentenced in 2002 to three years and six months imprisonment for “inciting splittism.” Their sentences were reduced by ten months, and they were released on 3 July, 2004. Their sentences include a further three years and six months of deprivation of political rights. Ngawang Sangdrol, who was released from the prison the same month that Thatso and Thongtso arrived in ‘Old Rukhag 3,’ said later that Thatso was known as ‘Ani Thatso,’ identifying her as a nun. Thongtso was the younger of the two, no older than 20, she said, and both of them had been held in the unit known as ‘New Rukhag 3’ before they were transferred to the same unit as Ngawang Sangdrol. No further detail is available about Thatso and Thongtso, or about the activity that led to their imprisonment.
The official information confirms that Nyima Choedron, detained in August 1999 and sentenced in 2001 to ten years’ imprisonment for endangering state security, has received two sentence reductions, one year and six months in 2002, and one year in 2004. According to the PRC response, her release is due on 26 February, 2007. Together with her partner, Jigme Tenzin Rinpoche, (known as ‘Bangri Rinpoche’ she used to run the Gyatso Children’s Home until its closure in 1999 under circumstances that remain unclear. (See: TIN News Update on 06 June 2002: Confirmation of sentence for orphanage director)
Based on the new information and on data in the TIN political prisoner database, Nyima Choedron and Anu, an amputee seamstress, may be the only Tibetan female political prisoners remaining in Drapchi. Anu’s four-year sentence is expected to be completed next month. Two nuns imprisoned in 1995, Chogdrub Drolma and Jangchub Drolma, may yet be serving sentences that were extended to 11 years after the May Day demonstrations in Drapchi in 1998. However, unconfirmed reports have alleged that the nuns are no longer in the prison, implying that they may have been released early and sent back to their villages in Damshung and Lhundrub counties respectively.
New information is available about four Tibetan male political prisoners held in TAR Prison. TIN is able to identify only one with certainty and one more with a high level of probability. Renzeng, or Choeden Gyatso (lay name: Rigzin), was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment in 2001 for “inciting splittism.” He received a one year and six months reduction in 2002 and a one year reduction in 2004. His sentence is expected to expire in January 2006. In May 2001, the People’s Daily, a state-run Chinese newspaper, alleged that Choeden Gyatso had planned to commit self-immolation in front of the Chinese embassy in New Delhi after reading out a list of demands that included the release of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, the Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama. The official information contains no mention of Lobsang Tsondru (or Tobgyal), who was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in connection with the same incident. The Spring 2003 issue of Dui Hua’s newsletter, Dialogue, reported on the case.
According to the response, Dawa Gyatso (Chin: Dawa Jiangcuo) was sentenced in 1997 to 18 years imprisonment for “organising or leading a counterrevolutionary group” and “counterrevolutionary propaganda and incitement.” His sentence was reduced by one year and three months in 2002 and by nine months in 2004. Unofficial sources have reported the case of Dawa Gyaltsen, a bank manager in Nagchu who was detained in November 1995 and sentenced to 18 years imprisonment in May 1996. TIN believes that Dawa Gyaltsen is the same prisoner referred to as Dawa Gyatso in the official response. He was part of a group that put up pro-independence posters locally. His brother, Tenzin Dorje (or Nyima), a monk of Zhabten Monastery in Nagchu, was reportedly sentenced to 13 years imprisonment. The response does not mention his case.
Another Tibetan, Wangdu, was sentenced in 1997 to 17 years’ imprisonment for “inciting splittism.” His sentence was reduced by one year in 2002 and by one year and three months in 2004. Based only on these details, TIN cannot clearly identify the case. A Drapchi inmate named Wangdu was one of three criminal prisoners (e.g. not political prisoners) who staged a protest in October 1997 during the visit of a delegation from the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD). According to some reports, the men received sentence extensions. However, in an explicit clarification provided to Dui Hua, Chinese authorities have stated that the Wangdu who received the sentence reductions is not the Wangdu who is alleged to have protested during the UNWGAD visit. Another prisoner named Phuntsog Wangdu, a former monk of Ganden Monastery, was detained in 1997 and sentenced in 1998 to 14 years imprisonment, according to unofficial reports. Insufficient data is available to determine whether the Ganden monk could be the Wangdu listed in the official response, or if Wangdu is a previously unknown case.
Dawa Tsering (Dawa Ciren), a Tibetan man sentenced in 2001 to four years imprisonment for “inciting splittism,” received a nine month reduction in his sentence. TIN cannot match this data to an existing record, but cannot rule out the possibility that the information may refer to a prisoner in the database.
Two of the 13 Tibetans are Qinghai residents. One, Kalsang Dondrub (Chin: Gaizang Dongzhu), was sentenced to three years imprisonment in 2003 for “inciting splittism.” In an unusual remark, the response notes that Kalsang Dondrub “has a chance to receive a sentence reduction in March 2005.” Kamm told TIN that, as far as he knows, this is the first time that the Chinese have provided any information about a potential sentence reduction for a prisoner. TIN has reported previously that two monks, Kalsang Dondrub and Ngawang Dondrub of Dragkar Traldzong Monastery in Tsigorthang County (Xinghai), Tsolho TAP (Hainan), were detained in July 2002 and sentenced to three year terms. In July 2004, TIN reported that, according to information based on official Chinese sources, the two monks had established a group, “The Three Area Justice Society,” that was well organised and had a 12-page charter. The latest information does not mention the second monk, Ngawang Dondrub.
In another Qinghai case, a man named Sonam Gonpo was sentenced to six years imprisonment for espionage and is due for release in March 2005. No sentence reduction is reported. In late 2003, Dui Hua published a translation of an article from an October 2000 edition of the Chinese magazine, National Security Information (Guojia anquan tongxun), that outlined China’s State Security Bureau’s version of this unusual case. The article alleges that Sonam Gonpo, a native of Tsigorthang county who lived in Xining, eventually became a paid spy for “the Taiwan side” and infiltrated a political training course on “Taiwan work” conducted in Xining. He was detained in March 1999 and tried in April 2000.
The official response also reiterates older reports on the early releases of nuns Ngawang Sangdrol, Phuntsog Nyidrol, and Ngawang Choezom, and on the three-year sentence reduction in 1994 of Drepung monk Jamphel Jangchub’s 19-year sentence. He is due for release on 07 April this year, according to the response.
Overall, the number of Tibetan political prisoners has declined slightly since TIN reported in February 2004 that about 145 Tibetans were in (or likely to be in) a prison or detention centre as of January 2004. Based on data current in January 2005, the figure is between 130 and 135. The total figure of current detention is certain to be somewhat higher than TIN data shows. This continues a trend that began in 1997 with steeply falling numbers as hundreds of prisoners completed their sentences while fewer Tibetans risked the severe, sometimes fatal, consequences of imprisonment. In recent years, the decline has slowed significantly.
