DHARAMSHALA, November 27: Two years after protests by Tibetans in Drango County where police fired indiscriminately on unarmed protesters, reports have emerged of sentencing of several Tibetans to varying prison terms up to 13 years.
Paldor, Namgyal, Sonam Dhargay and Tashi Dhargay were sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment while Nyima and Chubhey were sentenced to 12 years in prison. Kuntho and Ogyen Tsering received 11 years’ imprisonment while Sherab Sangpo and Thinlay Dhargay were sentenced to 10 years. All are currently held in Ranga prison.
A Tibetan who has spent three years in Ranga prison said the sentence was announced on January 26, 2012, which is unlikely. However, the date of sentencing could not be verified.
Hundreds of Tibetans had come out on the streets of Drango on January 23, 2012, the first day of Chinese New Year, calling for Tibet’s freedom and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile, expressing solidarity with the self-immolators and calling for continued activism and the boycott of celebrations during the Tibetan new year ‘Losar’.
The protests flared after local Chinese Public Security Bureau officials began to arbitrarily arrest Tibetans on suspicion of their involvement in the appearance of leaflets and posters around the town following the wave of self-immolations in the region. The posters had warned of more Tibetan self-immolations if the Chinese government did not listen to Tibetan concerns. Chinese security forces retaliated by firing indiscriminately into the unarmed demonstrators, killing at least five and injuring several others.
Around 400 Tibetans were detained in connection with the January 23, 2012, mass protest in Drango. Following the protests, Chinese authorities led a large-scale manhunt for suspected demonstrators and in one instance, shot down and killed two brothers in their hideout in the nearby hills of Drango.
