Campaign against torture |
Over many years, Free Tibet has collected countless separate testimonies and photographs evidencing torture suffered by Tibetans while in detention centres and prisons. Victims are often left with severe injuries and no means of legal redress. For both interrigation and 'patriotic re-education', torture is employed as a means of extracting confessions and letters of self-criticism. The Chinese Government has admitted that torture takes place, but dismisses it as the aberrant behaviour of individual officials in a few isolated cases. On the contrary, torture was found to be 'widespread' and 'routine' in Tibet by the United Nations. Moreover, it is a distinct element of state policy. The torture of prisoners is part and parcel of China's secretive and arbitrary system of justice, which sets a high premium on confession regardless of the means of extraction. It is also the state's preferred instrument for intimidating and breaking the will of its discontented subjects.
Click here to read Free Tibet's 'Tortured Truth' report
Click here for China's reaction to 'The Tortured Truth' (Reuters article)
Click here for our original submission to the United Nations
 Read testimonies from victims of torture and find out about the techniques used. Please note that this section contains graphic accounts of torture. Palden Gyatso (left) experienced brutal torture during 33 years imprisonment. |  Learn about China's legal and international obligations to prevent torture and how it has failed in them. By holding China publicly responsible, we can help expose the truth about torture in Tibet today. |
 In October 2008, Free Tibet submitted evidence of torture to the UN, who agreed with our conclusions, stating that torture is 'widespread' and 'routine'. Lama Jigme's (left) case was included. |  Find out how you can help prevent torture and other human rights abuses in Tibet. By writing to your local politicians, you can keep the pressure China to end torture in Tibet. |
Free Tibet's 'Tortured Truth' report
The UN Committee Against Torture delivered a damning assessment of China's record on torture on 21 November 2008. The Committee's conclusions represent the highest degree of accountability imposed on China since its brutal crackdown on Tibetan protesters in spring 2008.
The report reveals the drastically deteriorating record of abuse inside Tibet and focuses on torture carried out by China since the 2008 Tibetan protests.
"The Committee remains deeply concerned about the continued allegations, corroborated by numerous Chinese legal sources, of routine and widespread use of torture and ill treatment."
Click here to read the report
Click here for China's reaction to 'The Tortured Truth' (Reuters article)
Click here for our original submission to the United Nations
Despite supposed safeguards contained in Chinese Criminal Procedural Law, Tibetan detainees have been routinely denied their basic legal rights since protests swept across the Tibetan Plateau in the spring of 2008. The identity of the detainees, their whereabouts, the nature of any charges brought against them and eventual sentencing are routinely shrouded in secrecy. Placed outside the reach of even the most basic legal oversight, Tibetan detainees are at a significantly greater risk of torture or degrading treatment in Tibetan detention centres than they were even a year ago. Exacerbating this culture of secrecy is the severe threat of lengthy prison terms for any Tibetan passing on information to journalists or NGOs about Tibetans who have been detained, including the severity and methods of torture practised on Tibetans whilst in detention.
