Photos of Tenzin Nyima before and after his imprionment in Chinese jail
Tenzin Nyima, also called Tamey, a 19 year old monk who was recently released from police custody, has died from torture and injuries sustained whilst he was in prison. He had been detained following his participation in a peaceful protest calling for Tibet’s independence which took place outside a police station in November 2019. Nyima was a monk from Dza Wonpo monastery in Dza Wonpo town in Sershul County, Karze Prefecture in Tibet’s traditional Kham province.
Six other Tibetans, including a sixteen year old boy, were arrested with him for their involvement in the same protest and were given five year prison sentences, said Human Rights Watch (HRW), an international non government organisation headquartered in New York, in their report dated January 21. The protest broke out as local authorities were pressurising local people and nomads who had been subject to forcible resettlement to praise the Chinese government’s “Poverty Alleviation” programme.
(Clockwise) Choegyal, Soetra, Nyimey, Kunsel, Tsultrim and Yonten
Photo: CTA
Tenzin Nyima was initially detained on November 7, 2019, with three other young monks from Dza Wonpo Village. They had carried out a peaceful protest outside a local police station, throwing leaflets calling for Tibet’s independence. According to a report by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)’s Human Rights Desk, the three other monks were Kunsal (20), Soetra and Tsultrim (both around 18). On November 21, 2019, two other young men, Choegyal and Yonten, from the same village were also arrested for staging a similar protest and sharing related videos on Wechat. The CTA report stated that Choegyal’s younger brother was detained on November 18, 2019 for expressing solidarity with the event which took place on November 7.
Tenzin Nyima was released in May 2020 and rearrested three months later on August 11 for sharing news of the arrests online and contacting Tibetans in exile. While in police custody, Tenzin was tortured and suffered severe beatings; these resulted in serious injuries which caused his health to deteriorate, at which point the Chinese authorities instructed his family to take him home.
“He was unable to speak or move and was suffering from serious injuries and an acute respiratory infection, which they believed was due to beatings, malnourishment, and mistreatment in custody,” said HRW’s sources. On October 9, Tenzin’s family took him to a hospital in Chengdu where he was admitted, but his treatment was delayed until his family and relatives raised the RMB 40,000 [US$6,200, £4,500] required to pay for his treatment – despite the fact that he had lost consciousness. Later the doctors declared his condition untreatable and discharged him.
Tenzin Nyima
“The family took him to a few other hospitals in the hope that he could be treated: he was paralysed, comatose and gravely ill. On November 10, his family got him admitted to a hospital in Dartsedo, Karze prefecture, but there too the doctors gave up and discharged him. The family then brought him back to their home where he died soon after on January 19, 2021,” reports CTA’s Human Rights Desk.
The “Chinese authorities have once again turned arbitrary detention into a death sentence,” and “they should hold to account all those responsible for the brutal killing of the Tibetan monk Tenzin Nyima,” said Sophie Richardson, China Director at HRW.
Sikyong Lobsang Sangay, President of the CTA, expressing grief and condolences said “I pray that he be reborn again in Tibet as a great patriot and continue the freedom struggle. We will never forget [these] sacrifices.”
The International Campaign for Tibet, an independent advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms in Tibet, “calls for an independent investigation” into the death of Tenzin Nyima.
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