By Tsering Tsomo Chatsug
New Delhi, January 30 – Thirty three Tibetans, 25 men and 8 women including a nun, arrested today for demonstrating in front of the Chinese embassy in Delhi against the execution of Lobsang Dhondup in Chinese occupied Tibet were shifted to the high security prison Tihar jail subsequent to a judgement passed at the Patiala House court. The detained Tibetans will be held in Tihar until February 11, 2003.
The hunger strike launched at the Chanakyapuri police station where they were first detained after the demonstration is firmly in place even in Tihar jail. The hunger strike is a show of support and solidarity to Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche who, in protest against the flawed judicial system of China, sat on a hunger strike from January 6, 2003 while in custody.
Among those detained are two Tibetan women, aged 61 and 65; the jugde at the Patiala House court reportedly advised them to go home and escape detention in view of their poor physical health and old age but the two brave women refused categorically.
Lobsang Dhondup was executed in Ganzi town of Chinese occupied Tibet on January 26 after a secret retrial at the Sichuan Higher People’s Court on bombing charges. Along with him, Trulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche was also handed death sentence with two years suspension by a Chinese court on similar charges. Ten more Tibetans were held by the Chinese authorities in connection with the case. The fate of Trulku and the ten Tibetans are still unknown.
Issued By Tibetan Youth Congress(TYC)
Tibetan Women’s Association(TWA)
and Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet.
Contact :
Tsering Tsomo Chatsug (TWA) 91-9810575988
Jamyang Choephel (TYC) 91-9810109321
