DHARAMSHALA, April 4: Chinese authorities released a Tibetan man after serving 17 years in jail for demanding independence for Tibet.
The US-based Radio Free Asia said, “Jigme Gyatso, 52, a former monk, appeared ‘very weak’ when he returned Monday to his home in Sangchu (Ch: Xiahe) county in Gansu province’s Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture after being released from Chusul prison near Tibet’s capital Lhasa on Saturday.”
Gyatso, who was a founder-leader of the Association of Tibetan Freedom Movement, was sentenced to 15 years in jail on charges of “counter-revolutionary ring-leader” and “endangering national security” in 1996.
While in Drapchi prison, a group of prisoners, including Gyatso called for the “long life of His Holiness the Dalai Lama” during a European Union delegation’s visit to the prison in May 1998. The protest and resultant crackdown resulted in the death of nine prisoners.
In 2004, the Chinese authorities imposed three more years to his sentence. In November 2005, he met with the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture who urged the Chinese authorities for his release.
Amnesty International called Gyatso a “prisoner of conscience” and accused the Chinese authorities for torturing him in prison.
Last year Amnesty suspected Gyatso was “seriously ill as a result of torture and ill-treatment in custody.”
According to RFA, the Chinese police escorted Gyatso to his hometown on April 1. He is reportedly very weak with heart condition and high blood pressure.
His father was reportedly killed during an uprising against Chinese army and his mother died in 1996 after she fell ill upon hearing his imprisonment.
