Former Tibetan political prisoner dies aged just 50

By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, July 13: A former Tibetan political prisoner who served more than seven years in Chinese prison has reportedly died of diabetes-related complications, aged just 50 in Tibet.

Samdup died on February 17, 2020, at 3:15 am after he was admitted at the Lhasa Public Hospital in the beginning of this year, the UN, EU & Human Rights Desk, of the exile Tibetan government known officially as the Central Tibetan Administration said Monday. He is the fourth known former political prisoner who passed away in Tibet in the span of just six months.

The former monk from Changra township, Phenpo county in Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) who belonged to Drepung Monastery, Deyang house was sentenced to three years in prison for undertaking a peaceful protest with twelve other monks on May 12, 1992, in Lhasa. His sentence was extended for additional four years for unknown reason.

“Tibetan political prisoners are routinely tortured and denied proper medical care when held in Chinese prisons. For this reason, underlying health conditions are exacerbated and many prisoners suffer long-term consequences just like Samdup,” the UN, EU & Human Rights Desk at CTA’s information wing said.

Chinese prisons are notorious for inhumane condition and torture that lead to either death in detention or in many cases, life threatening injuries to which prisoners eventually succumb. “Torture is one of the persistent human rights issues in Tibet owing to China’s routine practice of torturing suspects in pre-trial detention mostly to extract forced confessions. Torture is used as a tool to intimidate and terrorise the whole community by making an example out of a detainee either by lifelong injuries or death,” Dharamshala based rights group Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said last month on June 26, the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.