Pema

Pema was arrested by policemen at his home on the morning on 17 March 2008. During the arrest he was beaten severely and was shocked with the use of an electric baton. As a result, he lost consciousness.  He regained consciousness in a detention centre and found his arms tied with ropes. He was again brutally beaten. At midnight he was transferred to a storage hall at the local railway station where over one hundred other Tibetans were being held in appalling conditions. The detainees, including Pema, had to sleep on the concrete floor. There was no access to running water or toilets.

During interrogations Pema was beaten. During one incident he was stabbed with a knife and burnt with cigarettes.
Pema’s family were not notified of his detention or his whereabouts as he was held in an informal place of detention, outside formal procedures of arrest.  He did not have access to a lawyer and did not receive medical assistance despite the torture he suffered during his ordeal.

He was released from the storage hall after three weeks without being charged with any crimes.
Pema now lives as a refugee in India.




Watch Pema’s testimony read by David Threlfall.