September 15
Yeshe Tenzin, a monk of Sog Tsenden Monastery in Sog County of Nagchu Prefecture in northern Tibet Autonomous Region, had died on Sep 7, some 10 months after his release in Dec 2010 from a 10-year jail term. He was taken to different hospitals by his family and relatives during those 10- months but he failed to recover from his illnesses incurred after years of ill-treatment in prison.

He was arrested with some friends in 2001 for copying and distributing posters calling for Tibet’s freedom and so on. He was also accused of having attended the Dalai Lama’s Kalachakra teaching in Sikkim.

He was reported to have been tortured, forced to undergo hard labour and severely beaten in prison, resulting in serious physical illnesses.

It was reported to be routine for Tibetan political prisoners in Sog County to be suffering from serious ailments and to even die after their release. RFA.org Sep 14 cited Sog residents as saying that another political prisoner, Tendzin Choewang, had lingered for two years following his release before he died.
Disappearances were also reported to be routine. For example, in Oct 2009, three young adult males – Gyaltsen, Wangchuk and Namkha – were arrested by Chinese police in the County, and their whereabouts remained unknown ever since.
(Published image is not part of this story)
(Sources: RFA.org, Sep 14; The Tibet Post International, Sep 13)

 

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