News and Views on Tibet

Tibetan asylum-seekers due in Shigatse, could face criminal charges

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WASHINGTON, June 4 – Eighteen Tibetan asylum-seekers forcibly repatriated from Nepal are expected to arrive shortly at a holding center in Shigatse, in the Tibetan Autonomous Region, where they appear likely to face criminal charges, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.

“The 18 people haven arrived here yet,” one official in Shigatse (in Chinese, Xigaze), west of the provincial capital Lhasa, told RFA Tibetan service. “We will thoroughly investigate their illegal actions,” the official said, adding that the group would be held at the Qian Song Zhan holding center.

Another source confirmed that the group had entered the Tibetan Autonomous Region from the Dram border crossing, and that they would be held in Shigatse “in a building that looks like a reception center but is equipped with all the facilities of a prison inside.”

The group was handed over to Chinese Embassy officials on Saturday in Nepal despite appeals by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees–prompting an outcry from Britain and the United States. The 18 Tibetans, including women and children, entered Nepal in April hoping to reach the northern Indian base of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader.

The Tibetan asylum-seekers are identified as: Thupten Tsering 18; Lobsang Tenzen, 28; Kalsang Wangdu, 19; Tashi Choedon, 19; Yonten, 17; Rinchen Dolma, 17; Lobsang Jampa, 23; Tashi, 22; Tsultrim Gyatso, 17; Tenzen Nyima, 14; Lobsang Phuntsok, 21; Yeshi, 13; Rinchen Dhondup, 14; Gelek, 30; Yeshi Wangpo, 23; Lobsang Tenpa, 23; Yeshi Sangpo, 23; and Lobsang, 25.

The U.S. State Department has voiced “outrage” at their repatriation, saying in a statement: “We condemn the behavior of Chinese diplomats in Nepal and we call on the government of Nepal to return to the previous practice of allowing Tibetans to seek protection in Nepal for onward resettlement to India.”

The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C., has voiced particular concern for the children in the group.

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