DHARAMSHALA, June 28: The Gu Chu Sum Former Political Prisoner’s Movement of Tibet, along with the Department of Health of the Central Tibetan Administration observed the International Torture Day on June 26.
Hundreds of Tibetans and foreigners gathered at the TCV Day School auditorium to commemorate the day when the United Nation’s Convention against Torture was inaugurated in 1987.
Testimonies of Tibetan political prisoners who had endured inhumane torture and sufferings inside Chinese prisons in Tibet were read out. A photo exhibition depicting the real situation of Tibetan political prisoners was also displayed.
The Gu Chu Sum Movement presented to the public, its much-acclaimed play, expressing the agony of Tibetan political prisoners under the Chinese regime.
The play, which details accounts of detentions, arrests, torture, interrogations and the sentencing of Tibetan political prisoners for merely voicing the opinion for a free Tibet, has travelled to many parts of the world.
Shosur Sonam Choephel, secretary of the Department of Health and Dawa Tsering, researcher at the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy spoke at the occasion.
Ever since its inception, the Gu Chu Sum Movement has been actively initiating various campaigns against the persistent torture of Tibetan political prisoners inside Tibet.
“We appeal in the strongest terms on this International Torture Day to the United Nation’s Committee against Torture, Amnesty International and to the international communities to protect and promote the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Tibetan people based on the principle of justice and equality,” the group said in a release.
Human Rights Watch in its ‘World Report 2012’ noted that China continues to be an “authoritarian one-party state that imposes sharp curbs on freedom of expression, religion; openly rejects judicial independence and press freedom; and arbitrarily restricts and suppresses human rights defenders and organisations, often through extra-judicial measures.”
