William Hague
Photo: commons.wikimedia.org
William Hague, the British Foreign Secretary, has petitioned China for leniency for Dolma Kyab who faces the death sentence, and has urged China to carry out a fair trial as approved by international standards. Concerning the death sentence, Hague said “We urge Chinese authorities to commute the sentence and give a reprieve.”
In August this year Dolma Kyab was sentenced to death for the supposed killing of his wife, Kunchok Wangmo. However, according to Tibetans in the exile community, she died after succumbing to injuries inflicted from self-immolation in protest against China’s human rights violations against Tibetans.
Dolma Kyab was sentenced to death for the supposed killing of his wife, Kunchok Wangmo, who died after a self-immolation protest.
Dolma Kyab, who is from Zoege County in Tibet, was detained by Chinese authorities after he refused to obey their orders to cite volatile family relations as the reason for Kunchok Wangmo’s self-immolation. The reason Kunchok Wangmo set herself on fire was understood to be a protest against the Chinese government.
Responding to the growing numbers of self-immolations amongst Tibetans, Hague asked all parties to “use their influence to bring an end to self-immolations”. Regarding China and its denying of religious and political freedom, Hague stated that “[we] should always be clear in the United Kingdom about the belief in universal human rights and never be afraid to give advocacy on those rights. That includes relations with China.”
In August, the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, based in Dharamshala, denounced the use of the death penalty, stating “it violates the fundamental right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.” The group further said that “the persistent use of death penalty demonstrates China’s rejection of the United Nations Global Moratorium on the Death Penalty, adopted in 2007, which establishes a suspension on executions with the view to abolish the death penalty.”
Since 2009 as many as 120 self-immolations have occurred in Tibet, in protest against China and its many human rights violations involving Tibetans, and calling for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet.
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