The use of detention, arrest, imprisonment, and torture of large numbers of Tibetans continues to be an integral part of China's effort to suppress opposition to Chinese rule in Tibet. Tibet's population accounts for around 0.2 percent of the total population of China. However, in 1995, according to Human Rights Watch, there were more known political and religious prisoners reported to be in jail than in the rest of China combined.
Independent international human rights observers have documented hundreds of political prisoners who continue to suffer in various prisons, labor camps, and detention centers throughout Tibet. There are many political prisoners in Tibet whose identities have never been confirmed by independent observers. The whereabouts of dozens of Tibetan dissidents remain unknown to their families and to the outside world.
Chinese authorities have taken aggressive measures to obstruct the flow of information from within Tibet to the outside world. For example, officials refuse to provide the names of political prisoners and respond to international inquiries with incomplete and deceptive reports.
Background
During the anti-rightist campaign of the late 1950s, tens of thousands of Tibetans were sent to labor camps for criticizing communism or the Communist Party and for the ideological crime of "local nationalism." Thousands more were imprisoned because of their social or economic status during the revolts against Chinese rule, which swept Tibet from 1956 until 1959. During the Cultural Revolution tens of thousands of Tibetans were also sent to labor camps for aiding or sympathizing with the revolts. During and after the demonstrations of 1987-89, Tibetans were detained for long periods without charge or were sentenced to prison for peacefully advocating for Tibetan independence.
Recent trends
The number of Tibetan political prisoners has declined in recent years. During much of the 1990s, there were approximately 1,000 documented political prisoners in central Tibet. As of 2001, there were an approximate 300 documented political prisoners. Sentence expiry within prison and a climate of fear account for the decrease, which dropped almost fifty percent from January 1999 to January 2001. However, protest and political imprisonment have largely increased in the rural areas of central Tibet.
The majority of political prisoners continue to be monks and nuns. Yet dissenting young Tibetans, teachers, and lay people represent a new wave of Tibetan nationalism and face drastic, sometimes ferocious, punishment. Many Tibetan prisoners have been arrested without warrant, arbitrarily detained, or imprisoned on the suspicion of harboring or expressing anti-Chinese opinions. The rationale for arrest includes: printing political leaflets; forming "counter-revolutionary organizations" that endanger state security; espionage or passing information to the "Dalai clique;" shouting reactionary slogans; encouraging reactionary singing; hoisting or possessing the Tibetan flag; failing to reform; and participating in demonstrations.
Hundreds of Tibetans, including those detained for long periods without formal charges and those arrested for crimes of endangering state security, have been incarcerated with rare access to legal counsel. Chinese law allows administrative detention, or re-education, for up to three years without trial. Detention can also be followed by arrest, leading to criminal sentencing and imprisonment. The current average prison sentence is 8 years, 8 months. The longer sentences range between 12 and 19 years and are usually given to Tibetans in positions of leadership and people who spread ideas through writing or speaking. Sentence extensions for breaching prison discipline are regarded among prisoners as a major threat. In Drapchi prison 27% of the population is serving extensions that average 12 years, 6 months. Takna Jigme Sangpo, among the longest-serving known political prisoners in Tibet, spent a total of 32 years in prison by the time he was released in 2002.
Torture continues on a wide scale in prisons, detention centers, and labor camps throughout Tibet. A consistent pattern of torture used against political prisoners has been well established: most dissidents are beaten during arrest and initial detention and torture is incorporated with the intensive interrogation process in order to extract confessions. Common forms of abuse include: kicking and beating; applying electric shocks to sensitive areas such as the genitals and mouth; placing heated objects on skin; using self-tightening handcuffs; and placing prisoners in confinement cells and in extreme isolation for long periods. Gender specific torture includes subjecting women to humiliation and sexual abuse. More sophisticated forms of mistreatment, which leave no visible marks, such as exposure to extreme temperatures, are now used in place of more evident forms of physical abuse. The People's Armed police implement military style drills, which alternate from pushing prisoners to extreme physical exertion to long hours of holding awkward motionless positions. Medical care for prisoners is inadequate. Often, basic first aid for serious injuries or illnesses is unavailable. Since 1987, at least 37 Tibetans died in prison as a direct result of torture or mistreatment. One example, Ngawang Dekyi, a 25 year old nun serving six years imprisonment for participating in a demonstration in Lhasa, died on January 21, 1998 as a result of severe beatings by prison guards.
Chinese government policy
Hard line policies adopted at the 1994 Third National Forum on Work in Tibet have sparked marked discontent and threaten both monastic and lay society. Intensified security policies, such as detaining suspected dissidents repeatedly for short periods, are often used to intimidate possible organizers.
The prison system in Tibet, unlike the situation elsewhere in China, falls under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Public Security rather than that of the Ministry of Justice. This means that police investigations, demonstration control, monitor and arrest of suspects, and prison authority are in the hands of a single government agency. Police seldom produce the detention, arrest, and search warrants guaranteed by the People's Republic of China's (PRC) Criminal Procedure Law (CPL). There is no functional independence of the judiciary. Trials fail to meet international standards of justice. Defense and legal counsel are rarely provided to Tibetan dissidents and are not required by law. The 1997 revisions to China's CPL specifically ban human rights abuses during interrogation, yet torture continues as a regular means for extracting confession. Failure to "confess" and plead guilty inevitably ensures a longer sentencing. Courts at all levels are subject to close scrutiny and control by branches of the Communist Party. Guilt is virtually predetermined and verdicts are decided by party officials before the trials.
Recommendations
- Release all prisoners who have been detained solely for their non-violent beliefs or activities.
- Provide full details of prisoners whose information has not been made known to international observers.
- Uphold international standards of criminal justice by safeguarding the defendant's rights.
- Make publicly available legal proceedings and evidence upon which convictions have been based.
- Conduct judicial reviews for those detained for allegedly violent or other criminal acts committed during demonstrations.
- Investigate allegations of torture and make public the findings.
Further Reading
Amnesty International, "Persistent Human Rights Violations in Tibet," London, 1996.
Tibet Information Network (TIN), Hostile Elements, London, 1999 & Hostile Elements II, London, 2001
Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, "Behind Bars-Prison Conditions in Tibet," Dharamsala, 1998.
