02. Feb 2009
Two sentenced in Kardze
(TCHRD) The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reports that on an unspecified date in January 2009, at least one monk and a nun were sentenced at Kardze (Chin: Ganzi) County Intermediate People's Court to prison terms of four and three years respectively for staging protests in Kardze county. The Public Security Bureau (PSB) detained Ngawang Lhundup and Kel Nyima, both monks of Kardze monastery, on 09 June 2008 for demonstrating outside the Kardze county headquarters, Kardze TAP, Sichuan province. While Ngawang Lhundup's sentencing could be confirmed, the fate of Kel Nyima remains unknown. In a separate court trial in January 2009, Pema Lhamo, a nun from Kardze Gaden Choeling nunnery was sentenced to three years' imprisonment by the same court for her participation in a protest in Kardze county on 14 May 2008. She was arrested with a layperson and six other nuns from the same nunnery. There is no information on the current status and whereabouts of the seven others. TCHRD said that there were unconfirmed reports that the two were transferred to a prison near the provincial capital, Chengdu.
05. Feb 2009
Four nuns and two laymen sentenced in Kardze
(TCHRD) Kardze County Intermediate People's Court has sentenced four nuns and two laymen from Kardze county for staging peaceful protests in the county earlier in the year. Lunglung Sonam from Thamei village, Kardze county, was sentenced to three years imprisonment in January 2009. He had been arrested on 17 May 2008. On 15 January, the same court sentenced three nuns from Yarteng nunnery to two years and six-months imprisonment. The three nuns are Poewang, of Yarkhag village; Yangzom, also from Yarkhag village; and Lhamo, Thamed village. They were all arrested on 18 June 2008. Ngawang Phuntsok, from Bumshul village, staged a solo protest on 18 June 2008. He was sentenced on 20 January 2009, to three years imprisonment. In a separate trial on 02 January 2009, a nun from Dragkar nunnery, Yangkyi, from Serchu Teng village, was sentenced to one year and nine months following her arrest on 12 May 2008.
05. Feb 2009
Details of Kardze Protests Emerge
(RFA) Further details are emerging of a protest staged in a monastery in Dege, Kardze county, during which gunshots were heard. The event occurred on 27 January 2009, at the Gonchen monastery. A Radio Free Asia (RFA) source said local authorities had tried to recruit monks to greet visiting Chinese officials, but none had volunteered. "Some of the local Chinese PSB officials then dressed as monks and greeted the officials. The Tibetan monks were angered when they heard about it, so they protested and clashed with local police", he said. The source said the clash involved shooting, but was unable to provide details of casualties. After the clash, he said, five monks were detained in the county jail, touching off protests by Tibetans calling for their release. "About 1,000 local Tibetans, including 300 monks, local lay Tibetans, and others who came to pray at Gonchen monastery and Dege Printing Center marched to the local police station and demanded the release of the detained monks", the source said. He said that details of events following the second protest were "vague".
09. Feb 2009
Seven monks arrested, abbot missing in Chamdo
(Phayul) Seven monks from Den Choekhor monastery in Jomda (Chin: Jiangda) county, Chamdo (Chin: Changdu) prefecture, were arrested on 24 January and are being held at Jomda county detention centre, according to a report by Phayul. The whereabouts of the abbot is unknown. Around 300 people including monks from Den Choekhor monastery took part in a demonstration at the government administrative office on 10 January 2009. Phayul sources said that the protest was carried out to stop the local authorities from taking a Tibetan dance troupe to Lhasa to participate in the celebration of the 'Serf Emancipation day' on 28 March. The same source said two explosions had occurred near the government administrative building in Choekhor township on 05 January 2009 causing damage to property but no casualties were reported. The authorities investigating have not been able to arrest anyone in connection with the explosions. According to the source, there has been strong military presence in the area beginning 12 January 2009 and heavy restrictions have been placed on the movement of Tibetans.
10. Feb 2009
Nine monks sentenced, other committed suicide
(TCHRD) Nine monks studying at Samye monastery in Central Tibet were sentenced to prison terms between two and fifteen years for their participation in brief protests in Lhoka (Chin: Shannan) prefecture on 15 March 2008 and a monk committed suicide, according to a report by TCHRD. The protests had taken place at Samye government administrative headquarters in Dranang county (Chin: Zhanang). The monks were detained at Lhoka PSB Detention Centre following the demonstration which was joined by hundreds of Tibetans from the county calling for the "swift return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet", "religious freedom" and "human rights for Tibetans".
10. Feb 2009
More Tibet unrest cannot be ruled out - officials
(Reuters) Cao Bianjiang, deputy mayor of Lhasa, said fresh unrest in Tibet cannot be ruled out, because exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is determined to foment trouble. Cao said he was focused on fostering growth that would ensure stability, but exiled Tibetans were scared this would make them irrelevant. "There are some people who do not want to see the peaceful development of Lhasa's economy", he said. The local government has tried to calm tensions and stamp out trouble by chasing those responsible for the March 2008 events, and compensating victims, Cao added. "We have taken other measures, for example punishing illegal elements. You can't let these things happen in front of your eyes with no impact".
10. Feb 2009
Tibetan nomads, farmers may be losers in China's ecology protection plan
(Xinhua) More Tibetans are set to be displaced, losing their ancestral land, homes and way of life, as China spends 20 billion yuan (UK£4.1 bn; $US5.8 bn; EUR€4.5) during its eleventh Five-Year Plan period (2006-2010) to build a State Ecological Safe Shelter Zone on the Tibetan Plateau, reported state-run Xinhua. "Problems such as grassland degradation, land desertification, glacier meltdown, soil erosion etc. are affecting the whole ecological environment in China" because of the deterioration of the environment on the plateau, it said. Three shelter zones will be constructed from 2008 to 2030. The report said measures will include returning grazing land to pastures, controlling rodent and pest damage, standardising construction of five regional nature reserves and rural biogas construction.
11. Feb 2009
So far 76 sentenced for 2008 unrest in TAR
(Xinhua) The official Chinese news agency, Xinhua, reports that courts in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) have so far sentenced 76 people involved in the March 2008 events in Lhasa, a senior Tibetan official said. Nyima Cering, vice chairman of the standing committee of the Tibet regional People's Congress, made the remarks at a press conference but gave no other details regarding trials and sentences. He claimed "any responsible government will surely resort to necessary means to safeguard its constitution and sovereignty". He said the government had shown restraint and did not use anti-personnel weapons in handling the incident. "Tibetan people are enjoying a good life now. There is no reason for them to forgo celebrating their traditional holiday this year", he said, in response to an underground campaign to boycott the festival to "mourn the deads of 2008".
11. Feb 2009
Dalai Lama: situation as "very tense"
(AFP) The Dalai Lama warned that the situation in Tibet is becoming "very tense" and that anger could boil over into an uprising "at any moment", Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported. "There is too much anger", he said. "At any moment an outburst could happen. This is my worry because with more violence there will be more crackdowns. Things are very sad". He said that people who are detained are being tortured and sometimes killed. The Dalai Lama said protests over the Chinese government's actions will intensify the crackdown. "Things are very sad", he said. He spoke in the German spa town of Baden Baden, where he received the German Media prize. A 20-member jury selected him for the award on behalf of the German audience research company, Media Control.
12. Feb 2009
China wants to "improve" regional autonomy
(VOA) China says it is going to work on improving regional autonomy. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu told reporters that China will continue to "improve the system of regional national autonomy". Jiang says China will take various measures to safeguard the "fundamental issues" of all ethnic groups, but did not provide further details. Her comments came in response to questions about the Dalai Lama's travels in Europe, when he went to Italy and Germany for four days, to receive various awards.
12. Feb 2009
Many Tibetan areas closed to foreigners
(AP) China is banning foreigners from the region ahead of the politically sensitive 50th anniversary of the failed Tibetan uprising of March 1959, Associated Press (AP) reported. Large swathes of Gansu, Sichuan and Qinghai provinces - home to large ethnic Tibetan communities - are now off limits to foreign travellers, local officials confirmed to AP. An official at the tourism office of northwestern Gansu province's Gannan TAP said the region was closed to foreigners and would not be open until late March. The official did not say when the restrictions were put in place. In Sichuan province, many areas open just two weeks ago are now closed to foreign tourists until April, according to officials at the Kardze prefecture tourist bureau. Only three counties in that prefecture will remain open to foreigners. Qinghai province's tourism bureau also said that many areas remain closed to foreigners. Chinese officials did lead a tightly controlled tour of Tibet this week for some foreign reporters.
