We recently received tragic news from Tibet. A 29-year-old monk, Tsewang Norbu (pictured below), also known as Norko, set himself on fire in Tawu. Tsewang Norbu drank petrol, sprayed himself with petrol and then set himself on fire. He was heard calling out: “We Tibetan people want freedom”, “Long live the Dalai Lama” and “Let the Dalai Lama Return to Tibet”. He is believed to have died at the scene.

This news exposes how desperate some Tibetans feel. Tsewang’s death has happened less than 6 months after another monk, Phuntsog, set himself on fire on the streets of Ngaba Town in the same region. Following Phuntsog’s death, the Chinese regime deployed troops onto the streets of Ngaba, forcibly removed hundreds of monks, imposed curfews, undertook house searches and set up military road blocks around the town which remain six months later.

Free Tibet publicised the truth about the crackdown in Ngaba after Phuntsog's death. We urgently need your support to continue to expose the truth of what is happening in Tibet. Please give what you can today.

China has sentenced three monks in connection with the death of Phuntsog. Phuntsog’s uncle, Tsundue was sentenced to 11 years imprisonment for “intentional homicide” which included delaying treatment. Two other monks, aged 20 and 21, were also sentenced for “plotting and assisting” in the self-immolation. The charge that other monks instigated and assisted Phuntsog have been rigorously denied by a spokesperson at Kirti Monastery in Dharamsala, India and do not reflect the non-violent nature of Tibetan opposition to China’s occupation.

Free Tibet believes that these prosecutions are part of a wider pattern of abuses in response to the acts of self-immolation, which are aimed at preventing further acts of protest as well as deterring people from disseminating information within Tibet and externally, including to the international media who are unable to report freely from Tibet. The acts of self immolation secured global media coverage exposing how desperate some Tibetans have become, in direct conflict with the images and rhetoric the Chinese state promotes.