Dharamshala: CTA President Dr Lobsang Sangay expressed his grief over the demise of former Tibetan political prisoner Ven Palden Gyatso, who passed away earlier this morning in Dharamshala at the age of 87.

“We are profoundly saddened by the news of the demise of Ven Palden Gyatso. He was truly a patriot who suffered for so long,” President said.

“Many around the world were greatly moved by the indomitable spirit and valour with which he fought for the dignity and freedom of the Tibetan people.”

“I have known him for twenty years and had the opportunity to interview him for the report by International Commission of Jurists titled ‘Tibet: Human Rights and the Rule of Law’. Later he was awarded the John Humphrey Freedom Award by the Canadian human rights group, Rights and Democracy. I also had the privilege to assist him as a translator on his speaking tour of New England and the US in the 2000s. I have also shared a speaking panel with him.”

He concluded, “Ven Palden Gyatso devoted his entire life to the cause of Tibet. Let us all be inspired by his lifelong commitment and thereby pledge to strengthen the Tibetan freedom struggle.”

A Tibetan Buddhist monk and former Tibetan political prisoner, Palden Gyatso has spent 33 years in Chinese prisons and labour camps. Born in the Tibetan village of Panam in 1933, Gyatso was ordained as a Buddhist monk during the Chinese invasion of Tibet. Gyatso was arrested in 1959 by Chinese authorities and incarcerated for peacefully demonstrating against the invasion. He was forced to participate in “re-education” classes, starved, endured hard labour, and was brutally tortured. Released from prison in 1992, Gyatso fled to India and brought with him some of the instruments of torture used against him as proof of the abuses of the Chinese regime. Gyatso has dedicated his life to raising awareness about the plight of the Tibetan people. He has testified before the United Nations and the U.S. Congress. His flagship memoir “Fire Under the Snow” published in 1998 was translated into 28 languages and sold more than a million copy. His other memoir, “The Autobiography of a Tibetan Monk,” was published in 1997. He was the subject of the 2008 film “Fire Under the Snow.”