DHARAMSALA, MARCH 22: A Tibetan political prisoner who the Chinese officials released in October last year apparently for ‘fear of death in custody’ has died at his home in Bhelban Township in Machu County on Wednesday.
Goshul Lobsang, 43, was released in an “extremely poor health” in October 2013 on medical parole. However, exile Tibetans said that the authorities were simply trying to avoid his death in their custody.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy confirmed the death saying Lobsang succumbed to torture injuries he suffered at the hands of prison authorities.
“The Chinese police and prison authorities brutally tortured him in detention and in prison. He suffered life -threatening injuries as a result. He was given all kinds of pain-relief injections but that only exacerbated his condition. Since the authorities feared that he might die in prison, they decided to release him on medical parole, months before he was to complete his full sentence. He was released on 27 October 2013,” the TCHRD quoted its source as saying.
Family and friends of Lobsang were not surprised by his death given his health condition at the time of his release, a source said. “He was literally reduced to skin and bones. He could not walk. He could not eat or drink. He could not even utter a single word,” said the source.
Goshul Lobsang led a protest in 2008 against the Chinese authorities at Bhelban Township. For almost two years he avoided arrest but finally got arrested on May 16, 2010. “For the next five to six months, he was detained by the police in Machu County where he was brutally beaten and tortured,” the source said.
In December 2010, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and imprisoned in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province. While in prison, his health deteriorated due to lack of medical care and starvation diet, according to the TCHRD.
Lobsang visited India and studied at the Tibetan Transit School for refugees near here. He is survived by his wife Tarey, 40, son Yeshi, 18 and daughter Dolma, 15.
