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TIBETAN YOUTHS
ARRESTED FOR PRO-INDEPENDENCE POSTERS
RFA 2004-01-09
Student paraded in region as warning
Chinese authorities in the southwestern province of
Sichuan arrested two students for putting up
pro-independence posters on local government buildings
in their town, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports.
The youths were identified as Nyima Dorjee and Lobsang
Dorjee, aged between 18 and 19. Both were students at
the Tawu junior high school in the historically
Tibetan region of Karze, sources told RFA's Tibetan
service. They were arrested between August and
September 2003 and held at a local prison in Tawu (in
Chinese, Daufu), Karze (Ganzi)Prefecture.
“The local Chinese Public Security Bureau officials
knew about the posters and the persons who did it.
Therefore they were arrested within a few hours [police]
saw the posters,” according to a source who asked not
to be named. “They are still detained in a local
prison.”
No comment was available from local authorities in
Karze. Whether the youths remain in custody or have
been released remains unclear.
The same source said Lobsang Dorjee stood trial in
October 2003 along with others who were arrested for
murder, theft or looting in the area. “Later, he was
paraded in the Tawu area with a wooden board on his
neck labeled as separatist,” said the source, who saw
the posters as a response to a stepped-up campaign of
"patriotic education" by Chinese authorities.
"All the monks and nuns in the local monasteries and
nunneries in Tawu were instructed by local police to
make photo identity cards about six or seven years ago.
Most of monks and nuns believe this is a campaign to
oppose the Dalai Lama," the source said. "Therefore
the monks refused to comply, but this year they
intensified the campaign."
Chinese officials had raided Nyitso Monastery and
arrested those who refused to comply. Many of those
who were arrested were brought to the town and locked
up for few days and given stern warnings, the source
said.
"In November last year, two monks of Nyitso Monastery
were arrested and their houses were demolished for not
receiving proper education under the campaign of
patriotism and religion," the source told RFA. “There
are about 300 nuns in the local Tawu nunnery and about
200 of them were forced to make photo identity cards.”
Karze, also known as Kandze and Ganzi (in Chinese),
forms part of the Kham Tibetan region, which falls
under the administration of Sichuan Province. Sichuan
borders the Tibetan Autonomous Region and includes
parts of traditionally Tibetan territory.
In November 2003, Karze witnessed the unusual sight of
a three-meter long Tibetan national flag-forbidden by
the Chinese authorities as a symbol of resistance to
Beijing's rule-flying atop a huge local radio tower.
The flag was still flying during the consecration
ceremony for a local Buddhist shrine, built by a
Chinese sponsor, eyewitnesses reported at the
time.#####
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