By Kelsang Rinchen,
Phayul Reporter
Dharamsala January 27- Lobsang Dhondup, one of the two Tibetans earlier sentenced to death by a Chinese court on December 2, was executed in Kandze, reports AP.
But the authencity of this report by AP, a reputed news agency, is debated by many here in Dharamsala.
Reuters was the first to report the sentencing to death of the two Tibetans but this time neither Reuters nor any of the other media agencies reported the incident(But at the time of this report going online, there were others too reporting it, and it seems there is very little to debate now). However, the Central Tibetan Administration based in Dharamsala, said they have ‘learned’ of the reported execution and regretted it ‘if it is true’.
The execution comes as a setback to the Tibetan exile government, which, after the ‘successful’ trip of its delegation to Beijing and Tibet, set July 2003 as the deadline for a positive reaction from Beijing for possible talks.
In a press statement issued here, the Tibetan exile government has appealed to the world community to exert pressure on their governments to overturn the verdict passed on Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, an influential Buddhist figure, who was arrested and sentenced for alleged involvement in the Chengdu City bomb blast of 3 April 2002.
The exile government of Tibet expressed its regret that the two did not receive a fair trial and that the sentences were passed on arbitrary charges without any concrete evidence.
There were speculations earlier that Tulku Tenzin Delek had confessed to having masterminded the blasts but in an audiotape smuggled out of the prison, Tulku had denied his involvement in the case.
The Chinese authorities seem to have kept the two Tibetans in separate locations since the audiotape did not have Lobsang Dhondup’s voice recorded nor anything about him. China must have by now known about the smuggling of the tape by Tulku. And the seriousness of this crime is enough an excuse for the prison authorities to torture him severely.
Kelsang Rinchen can be contacted at kalsangr@yahoo.com
