Two Tibetans receive sentences Dawa Gyaltsen is serving an 18 year sentence for producing and putting up posters calling for Tibet's independence. Dawa Gyaltsen, believed to be 46 years old, was born in Nagchu County, north of Lhasa. Dawa studied banking and accountancy in Beijing and later returned to his village and worked in a bank. Dawa's younger brother, Nyima (lay name Tenzin Dorje) was a monk at Nagchu Shabten Monastery. In 1994 and 1995 Chinese officials visited Nagchu Shabten Monastery to conduct 'patriotic education' classes. The monks in the monastery were required to condemn the 'splittist' groups, make derogatory statements about the Dalai Lama and were ordered to destroy religious artefacts.

In response to these enforced classes and the lack of religious rights, Dawa and Nyima decided to lead a protest. Dawa agreed to make pro-independence posters while Nyima gathered more support. Dawa wrote a brief history of Tibet as an independent nation and wrote slogans including 'Freedom in Tibet' and 'Tibet belongs to Tibetans'.

In April 1995 the monks secretly put up posters all over the county. Upon discovering the posters, the Public Security Bureau started an investigation. Dawa and one other man in the group immediately fled to Lhasa but in November 1995 were captured. In May 1996 Dawa Gyaltsen and Nyima were accused of being the prime activists and were sentenced to 18 years and 13 years imprisonment respectively. In January 1997 they were transferred to Drapchi Prison to serve their sentences. Unconfirmed reports suggest that Dawa Gyaltsen¹s sentence was reduced by one year and three months in 2002 and by nine months in 2004. (Source TCHRD)

Tenzin Tsundue, a former political prisoner was in the cell next to Dawa Gyaltsen¹s at Sitru Detention Centre in 1997. He gave a testimony in London in June 2006 (see page 7) where he talked extensively about Dawa Gyaltsen.

"Dawa Gyaltsen was usually treated badly by the jail authorities, sometimes they deprived him of food, often depriving him of the small 15 minute fresh air break in the morning called fang-fung, which is Chinese for fresh air. For prisoners who spent all their days and nights in one cold locked room, with a plastic bucket for a toilet, uncertain of their future life, with no space for communication or personal contact, this 15 minute break to see the open sky meant so much.

There were clear scars of torture- a ring of white scar tissue ran around his wrists. He told me that when he was first arrested he was handcuffed and thrown into a dark room without food for ten days. To keep him alive, the jailers would splash water on him once a day. The handcuffs tightened around his wrists. They ate into his flesh, forming sores, and puss. After 10 days when they unlocked the shackles, the metal rings ripped of skin from his wrist. He said he was not given medical attention and it took many months for the sores to heal. In the cold prison cell at Sitru, the wounds had healed, but the marks remained.

He would often ask me to sing the song about the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, about the separation of the broken Tibetan families separated either side of the Himalayas. This he said gave him a lot of comfort and I would often find myself singing with my eyes full of tears.

He was happy to hear about the amount of awareness and support the Tibetan struggle was receiving in the Western countries and he couldn¹t believe that the Dalai Lama has become an idol, a hero and a role model, loved by people all over the world."

Take action:
Please write to the TAR Party Secretary and ask for Dawa Gyaltsen¹s immediate release.
Also ask for Dawa Gyaltsen to receive required medical attention.

Secretary of the Tibet Autonomous Regional Party Committee,
Zhang Qingli, Zhonggong Xizang Zizhiqu Weiyuanhui, Lhasashi, Xizang Zizhiqu
People's Republic of China
Salutation: Dear Secretary