DHARAMSHALA, December 29: Latest information from Tibet on Tulku Tenzin Delek, 61, who is currently serving a life-sentence in a Chinese prison in Tibet, has once again raised serious concerns over his health.
Citing sources inside Tibet, a Tibetan in exile told RFA that Tulku Tenzin Delek is suffering from a heart ailment and severe pain in the legs.
People who were given a rare prison meeting with Tulku Tenzin Delek made the revelations. The meeting reportedly lasted for only ten to fifteen minutes.
Similar information on Tulku’s deteriorating health had reached last year when a Chinese prison guard reportedly told Tulku’s relatives that the imprisoned reincarnate lama had “chronic cardiac illness and hypertension.”
Tulku Tenzin Delek is a highly revered religious leader and an outspoken admirer and follower of the Dalai Lama. Following a series of bomb blasts in 2002 in eastern Tibet, Chinese officials charged Tulku along with Lobsang Dhondup for carrying out the blasts.
Lobsang Dhondup was immediately executed after a closed trial while Tulku was also given the death sentence with a two-year reprieve. The sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment on January 26, 2005 after an international outcry.
Tulku Tenzin Delek has a history of working for the welfare of local Tibetans in eastern Tibet. His initiations included improvement of healthcare, education and religious institutions. Tulku was also an ardent environmentalist and advocated for the conservation of the environment in the face of China’s rampant logging and mining in Tibetan areas.
Last month, John Kamm, founder and chairman of the San Francisco-based Dui Hua Foundation, which has close ties with the Chinese government, had raised hopes for the release of Tulku Tenzin Delek and Lobsang Tenzin – one of Tibet’s longest serving political prisoners.
Kamm told reporters that he had requested the Chinese authorities to release the two prominent Tibetan political prisoners during his most recent trip to Beijing.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to express my strong hope that among those who are released early would be Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and, of course, Lobsang Tenzin,” Kamm thad old reporters outside a congressional hearing in Washington.
