Tibetan prisoner released after serving 15-year-term

Wednesday, 11 July 2007, 10:48 a.m.

A file photo of Thubten Yeshi (TCHRD)

Dharamshala: A Tibetan political prisoner who has served his 15-year-term was released earlier this month, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy.

Thubten Yeshi was arrested in July 1992, allegedly for conspiring a demonstration staged by four other Tibetan farmers before a large assembly at Gyama Township of “Tibet Autonomous Region”.

The Lhasa People’s Intermediate Court later convicted all five of “counter revolutionary plot” and “inciting reactionary propaganda”.

In addition to deprivation of political rights for 5 years, Thubten Yeshi, Lhundup and Sonam Rinchen were sentenced to 15 years, while Kunchok Lodroe and Sonam Dorjee received 13-year-term.

The harsh sentences for peacefully sloganeering “Free Tibet” and “Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama” are an indication of China’s resolve in cracking down upon all forms of political activism.

In a statement released on Monday, the Centre expressed serious concerns over the physical frailty of Thubten Yeshi, 58, after suffering years of torture and subhuman treatment in Chinese prisons.

Among those convicted for the demonstration, Sonam Rinchen, then in his 20s, died in prison in 1999, while Kunchok Lodroe was released on medical parole in 1996.

Although another prisoner, Lhundup, was also released last month, the Centre “does not recognize release of high-profile Tibetan political prisoners as a mark of improvement in human rights situation in Tibet”.

According to the Centre, at least 89 Tibetan political prisoners have died of torture and subhuman treatment inside Chinese prisons.

As of 2007, some 119 known political prisoners are said to be languishing inside Chinese prisons.

“China must release all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience if it is sincere about improving its human rights record,” the rights group said.