Tibetan Political Prisoner Hospitalised

By Jackie Renee / March 14, 2016;

Jigme Gyatso

Chinese prison authorities have hospitalised high-profile Tibetan political prisoner, Jigme Gyatso. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) reports that Gyatso, who is eligible for release in six months, is hospitalised in Lanzhou city, capital of Gansu Province.

Jigme Gyatso, also known as Jigme Guri, was a monk at Labrang Monastery in Sangchu County, Kanlho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province.

In February 2012, TCHRD obtained a copy of Gyatso’s August 2011 arrest warrant. This was his fourth arrest in five years.

After years of speculation it was learned in September 2014 from in-exile Tibetan sources that Gyatso had been sentenced to five years in prison for “splittist activities”; the monk had exposed Chinese methods of torture to the world.

Before hospitalisation Jigme Gyatso appealed for a reduction of his term due to his accumulation of points for prison labour, but his appeal was not considered. According to a relative residing in India that consideration would have granted Gyatso release last month.

A source with contacts in Tibet states that Gyatso was probably admitted to the Da Xia Ping Prison hospital late February or early March this year. Before that, Jigme Gyatso’s family had been allowed monthly, twenty-minute visits; in February the visit was denied with no explanation given and the family learned of his hospitalisation from prison authorities in early March. Gyatso’s family doubts that the hospitalisation is due to any serious medical condition. They last saw him on January 25 when he told them that there was talk among prison authorities about hospitalising him, but he gave no indication of any need for hospital treatment.

In 2008 Jigme Gyatso gave an interview to Voice of America describing his and 180 other monks’ treatment. Gyatso said that during an interrogation he lost consciousness for six days and was returned to his family near death. During the VOA interview he said that his main hope was that the international media and the United Nations would come to Tibet and report on what is happening there.