By Kate Saunders for Australian Tibet Council
A female amputee in her forties called Anu and a Tibetan monk, Lobsang Namgyal, are serving prison sentences at Drapchi (Tibet Autonomous Region Prison Number One) for political offences. Full details of the charges against Anu, who was sentenced to four years, and Lobsang Namgyal are not known but appear to be linked to the authorities suspicions of connections to the Tibetan government in exile, and of possessing “separatist” leaflets, including speeches by the Dalai Lama.
Forty-seven year old Anu, who has only one leg after she was knocked down by a Chinese military truck near her home in Lhasa at the age of 13, was detained in March 2001. Anu, who moves around with the aid of a wooden crutch, worked as a tailor making traditional Tibetan clothes prior to her detention. A Tibetan friend, a former political prisoner who is now living in exile, said: “Anu was well-known for her compassionate nature most of her small income was given to homeless people, the sick, and former political prisoners. She sometimes took food to former political prisoners and went to visit them in hospital if they were ill. Her motivation was not political it was only to help others as part of her religious faith.” The same Tibetan said that Anu had been in quite poor health before her prison sentence, suffering from frequent and severe headaches, and that there is concern about how she is coping in prison due to her disability.
Lobsang Namgyal, (also known as Lonam), a monk in his thirties, was detained in June 2001 in connection with the same case and according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in India, was sentenced in November 2001 to four years for “endangering state security”. It is Lobsang Namgyal s third sentence for political offences, and his health is said to be poor as a result. Lobsang Namgyal was held in Gutsa for nearly a year following an earlier detention in March 1990 for helping some nuns who had taken part in a demonstration, according to the Tibetan former political prisoner. His second period of imprisonment was in 1995, when he was assigned to three years re-education through labour for helping to compile a list of political prisoners. His health, particularly his eyesight, deteriorated during the two earlier detentions.
This is one in a series of independent reports by Kate Saunders commissioned by the Australia Tibet Council, Free Tibet Campaign and the International Campaign for Tibet.
