Tibetan Headlines
Sep 20: EU Stands Firm
Beijing has complained because the president of the European Union Martin Schulz met His Holiness the Dalai Lama at the European Union Parliament in Strasbourg. China has postponed a scheduled visit to China by an EU economic delegation, but Mr Schulz said he “remains firm in deciding autonomously and free from undue pressure on who he should meet”.
Sep 19: Tibet Film Festival
The 7th Tibet Film Festival is underway in Dharamshala and Switzerland, premiering with the Tibetan film Pawo [Hero], a Tibetan-German film looking at the issues around self-immolation. Chief guest in Dharamshala was Tibetan Prime Minister in Exile Lobsang Sangay who expressed happiness as more young Tibetans enter the world of cinema. The theme for the short film competition this year is food.
Sep 17: Kalachakra.org
The official Kalachakra 2017 website has been launched: www.kalachakra2017.net or www.kalachakra2017.org. The 34th Kalachakra Initiation will be conferred by the His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on January 3 – 14 next year at Bodhgaya, Bihar, India and the website provides information on facilities for the event including tents, medical and sanitation and registration arrangements.
Sep 16: Tibet Solidarity Rally
1,500 people attended a Tibet Solidarity Rally in Geneva, Switzerland, calling for freedom of religion and human rights. Tibet support non-government organisations and members of the Tibetan community were joined by Uyghur people from East Turkestan in China; the date coincides with the ongoing United Nations session. Rally slogans included: “Freedom for Tibet and East Turkestan,” “Long live HH the Dalai Lama” and “Tibet was never Part of China”.
Sep 16: Nuns’ Teaching
Nuns at the Ganden Shedrub Choephel Ling convent in the Sichuan province hosted a Jang Gunchoe, or Winter Teaching, from September 4 – 9. It is the first time ever that nuns have held a Jang Gunchoe and it was attended by hundreds of participants from nunneries across Sichuan and neighbouring Qinghai. The visiting Geshes who were giving instruction applauded the nuns’ initiative and encouraged them to continue.
Sep 16: Four Monks Sentenced
Four monks from Ngaba County in the Amdo region who carried out solitary protests last year have been sentenced to three years each on the charges of “inciting separatism”. They are all from Kirti Monastery and were arrested separately in September: Lobsang, 23; Adrak, 21; Jamyang Phuntsok, 22 and Lobsang Kelsang, 20. The families of all four have had no information about them since their detention.
Sep 16: Writer Released
Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, 36, a popular Tibetan writer and teacher, has been released from prison a year before the end of his five and a half year term and returned to his village in Kardze in Serthar county. He was held in Sichuan’s Minyak Rangakha prison. Kyab’s writings about the 2008 protest movement in Tibet were published in exile in 2013 as A Year Written in Blood.
Sep 15: Very Frail
Jamyang Kunkhen, 43, a teacher and musician who has been in prison since 2007, is reported by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy as having been released on August 21 from Mianyang prison near Chengdu in Sichuan, in an extremely frail physical condition. TCHRD is concerned that Kunkhen’s parole conditions, which include deprivation of political rights and surveillance may prevent him from obtaining medical treatment.
Sep 14: Jang Gunchoe
This year’s Jang Gunchoe, or Winter Teaching, is being held at Drakkar monastery in Tsigorthang county in the Qinghai province, attended by hundreds of Tibetan monks and laypeople who have gathered for the eight-day teaching. It is the 13th to be held in Drakkar and is also attended by monks from the Bon tradition.
Sep 13: Live From Tibet!
A small group of journalists have been allowed into Tibet. China's Xinhua news reports that they were invited as part of a tourism exposition. Although they are apparently mostly confined to travelling in groups, Washington Post Beijing Bureau Chief Simon Denyer used Facebook Live to report about his trip to Lhasa and take questions from viewers.
Sep 13: Solitary Confinement
Lobsang Tashi, known as Tapey, who was the first Tibetan to self-immolate in 2009, has been put into solitary confinement for three months in his prison in Sichuan. Radio Free Asia has reported that Tapey was confronted by prison guards over the television programme he was watching with fellow prisoner Kunchok Lodoe and both were put into solitary confinement. Tapey was a monk from Kirti Monastary in Ngaba County
Sep 12: Two Monks Sentenced
Jinpa Gyatso, 39, and Kalsang Monlam, 37, two monks from Labrang monastery in Amdo have each been sentenced to one and half years in prison. They were separately arrested on June 4 last year, accused of sharing online information and images about Sangye Tso’s self-immolation protest in May that year. Both of them are being held in Menkar Prison in Sangchu County.
Sep 12: Second Monk Detained
Lobsang Sherab, 35, a second monk living at Thangkor Sockstang monastery in Ngaba, has been detained along with Gedun Drakpa, reports Radio Free Asia. Sherab’s room mates were threatened at gunpoint when he was detained, the police forcing one them to the ground and injuring him. It is 17 days since Sherab and Drakpa’s detention and there is no word on their whereabouts.
Sep 10: Monk Freed
Ludrub, a monk from Gyalrong Tsodun Kirti monastery in Ngaba, was released on September 2, a year before completing his full prison term. He was sentenced to five years after being linked to the fatal self-immolation protest of another monk, 18-year-old Lobsang Lodzin, in 2012 in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. Two others detained with Ludrub, Sangye Gyaltsen and Thargyal, have already been released.
Sep 10: TSG Conference
His Holiness the Dalai Lama was in Brussels to inaugurate the seventh Tibet Support Group (TSG) conference in Brussels, Belgium. 250 delegates from over 50 countries congregated there for the three day meeting, including European Parliamentarian and President of TSG Thomas Mann and the Tibetan Prime Minister-in-Exile Lobsang Sangay. The TSG is a forum for Tibet supporters around the world.