China arrests two Tibetan women after peaceful demonstration of support for Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche

Source: Tibetan Centre For Human Rights And Democracy
   

 

 

Two Tibetan women in their late 50s, O’dho and Apha Bhomo, were arrested on 19 July 2007 by Public Security Bureau (PSB) officials for the alleged “crime” of encouraging local people to join their call for the release of prominent local lama, Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, according to confirmed information received by The Tibetan Centre For Human Rights And Democracy (TCHRD). The women are residents of Othok Village, Nyagchuka County, Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the eastern Tibetan region of Kham [Ch: Sichuan Province] and both are currently detained at the Nyagchuka County PSB Detention Centre. The authorities are also known to have denied visitation rights to the relatives of the two women. O’dho is a mother of nine children and TCHRD has subsequently learned that two of her sons, Kalsang Sungrab and Tenzin Tsoknyi have been prevented from attending their respective schools with the authorities even imposing restrictions on their movement. Tenzin Tsoknyi was studying at a private school in Lithang County.
A huge public protest which led to the arrests was sparked after Chinese officials interrupted a ceremony at Kham Nalanda Thekchen Jangchup Choeling Monastery, objecting to the placing of a portrait of Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche on the throne of the newly reconstructed prayer hall.
The monastery had been founded by Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche in 1987. O’dho and Apha are understood to have made a public call that Rinpoche is innocent and was wrongly convicted, whilst another group of local Tibetans who had lodged a complaint with the authorities in Nyagchuka County at the highhanded manner of the officials who interrupted the ceremony are known to have been detained by Nyagchuka PSB officials. The identity of those additionally detained is unknown.

Free Tibet Campaign is concerned for the safety and welfare of O’dho and Apha Bhomo and the other Tibetans detained in the aftermath of the Nyagchuka protests. Those who stage such public protests in Tibet are severely punished and routinely sentenced to lengthy prison sentences where torture is common. 

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Please write to those listed below and ask for the immediate release of O’dho and Apha Bhomo.

1. Chinese Ambassador in London
   Madam Fu Ying, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to the United Kingdom 
   Chinese Embassy Address: 49-51 Portland Place London W1B 1JL
   Email:press@chinese-embassy.org.uk


2. Governor of Sichuan Province
   Jiang Jufen, Governor of Sichuan Province 
   Address: c/o Protocol and Press Division of Foreign Affairs Office of Sichuan Province
   100 Dongsanduan, Yihuanlu, Chengdu 610021
   Phone/Fax: +86 28 8435 6789

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Free Tibet Campaign stands for the Tibetans’ right to decide their own future. It campaigns for an end to the Chinese occupation of Tibet and for the Tibetans’ fundamental human rights to be respected. It is independent of all governments and is funded by its members and supporters.