This morning I came across a Facebook wall message posted by one of the Rangzen activists living in the United States, in which he quoted a line from two sympathisers with Tibetan independence, Harry Wu and VR Krishna Iyer, expressing concern at the censorship of words such as “independence” implemented by the Tibetan government-in-exile in its official publications.It is surprising that this terrible truth did not produce much reaction from Tibetan readers of his page.My gut feeling is that this is due to the genius of the ‘Middle-Way’ propaganda that has now fully succeeded in pacifying the

In Chamdho county the locals as well as monks are being denied access to various counties and provinces and being arrested without reason.Sometimes, when people are just walking on the road, the Chinese police subjects them to interrogations and physical inspections in a humiliating manner.In Amdho one of the most alarming situations is being faced by schools.Tibetan schools have had their subjects changed to Chinese and thus are systematically losing their language and forms of communication.Tibetan students are finding it increasingly difficult to pass examinations not only because of the la

A Tibetan monk who went missing for eight months after his arrest has been sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment.According to information received by sources in the first week of July 2012,Lodoe, a 36-yr-old monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, was sentenced to 3 years' in prison by an Intermediate People's Court in Barkham.Lodoe's whereabouts remained unknown since his arbitrary arrest around 20 October 2011 at his monastery in Ngaba.Sources tell TCHRD that family members and relatives of Lodoe were neither informed nor invited to witness the trial that had supposedly taken place prior to the sen

Security officers have detained two Tibetan monks who wrote books critical of Chinese policies in Tibet and are holding them in an undisclosed location where they may face torture.Tashi Dondrub and Kelsang Gyatso, known also by the nicknames Mewod and Gomkul, were taken into custody on July 14 at Palyul monastery in the Kardze Prefecture.Tashi Dondrub is from Yulshog in the Samkha subdivision of Riwoche county in the Chamdo prefecture, and is the president of a literary group called The State of our Snow Mountains,”.Kelsang Gyatso, a prominent member of the same group and chant leader at the m

Restrictions on news, media, and communications in Tibet have been stepped up by Chinese authorities in the lead-up to the 18th Party Congress, due to take place in late 2012.The measures appear to be an effort to cut off Tibetans from news not subjected to the government’s domestic monopoly on information.The new restrictions, described in the official Renmin Wang media outlet on May 31, 2012, as key to maintaining stability and national security, aim to “ensure the absolute security of Tibet’s ideological and cultural realm,” according to Tibet Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo

A Tibetan man who set himself on fire on 7 July 2012 in Tibet Autonomous Region has reportedly died.The 22 year-old Tibetan man was identified as Tseten Dorjee, from Damshung County in Lhasa Municipality, TAR.Several media reports said Tseten Dorjee died later that night.Tseten Dorjee reportedly self-immolated in the centre of Damshung County.Tsetan Dorjee walked some distance and called for the long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, according to sources quoted by the media.Within minutes security personnel arrived at the site and took a severely burnt Tseten Dorjee to hospital.Reports also

A Tibetan man from a village outside of Lhasa set himself on fire at the weekend in protest against Chinese rule.The man, in his 20’s, shouted slogans in support of Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama as he staged the fiery protest in the seat of Damshung county in Lhasa prefecture on Saturday.He was able to walk about 100 meters with his body on fire before falling down.Police took him away from the scene to get him medical treatment.No one was allowed to see him after he was rushed to the hospital and at the same time some were warned not to give information to outside sources.Authoritie

A high-ranking Tibetan religious figure and his niece, a nun, died on May 6.On the day Thubten Nyandak Rinpoche, 45 and his niece, Atse, 23, were honoring Tibetans who died in the self-immolation protests;with butter lamp tributes, their house caught fire.As the Chinese authorities ruled the case as an accident, the press and media did not highlight the event.Thubten Rinpoche was the former abbot of Dzokchen monastery, the site of recent Tibetan protests.He was a strong advocate of Tibetans’ rights, culture and unity.His niece Atse was well known as well, for her strong support towards the wel

Chinese authorities have sentenced the director of a Tibetan monastery and two of his subordinates to between nine and 11 years in prison for “instigating” the self-immolation of another monk.The three monks belonged to Bongtak monastery in Themchen and were implicated in the death of Damchoe Sangpo, a 40-year-old monk who burned himself to death in February in protest against Chinese rule.The director of Bongtak monastery, Venerable Jamsem, was sentenced to nine years, while his subordinates Khendup and Samgyal were sentenced to 11 and 10 years, respectively.

A Tibetan woman set herself ablaze last week in protest against land confiscation policies.The woman, whose name and age are unknown, self-immolated on June 27 in the township of Jyekundo.She moved to the area a couple of years ago and the self-immolation was in protest against the confiscation of her residence.Authorities had spared homes in the neighborhood of those who maintained good relations with local authorities, but had singled out her residence for demolition.Ngawang Topden, a source from Jyekundo who currently lives in southern India, said that the woman had set herself on fire in a