BEIJING, April 19 – A factory making hydroelectric equipment in China’s northern Qinghai province has used a Tibetan political prisoner as forced labor, the London-based Tibet Information Network (TIN) said Saturday.
The prisoner, Lobsang Dargyal, 36, died within months of his sentencing and placement in the factory, which also served as a form of prison, TIN said, adding that the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear.
The “Qinghai Hydro-Electricity Installation Factory” — a huge plant located in the village of Duoba, a few kilometers west of the western edge of Xining city in Qinghai — forced Lobsang to provide free labor, the group said.
In August or September 2002, Lobsang and another Tibetan from Machen county, a Tibetan autonomous prefecture in Qinghai province, were sentenced and transferred to the factory, it said. Both had been arrested a year earlier on their way back to Tibet from India.
Lobsang had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for “separatist” activities.
In November 2002, Lobsang became ill and was taken to a military hospital in Xining, where he died about two weeks later.
According to sources familiar with the case, Lobsang went into a coma, TIN said. Although his state could have suggested brain injury, there were no clear indications of maltreatment or external injury.
The factory was previously known to house only regular inmates, TIN said.
Lobsang’s detention there is believed to be the first known political imprisonment at the site.
A former Tibetan inmate was quoted by TIN saying: “This prison was more like a shop, people would come and order certain goods in certain sizes and then we would produce these goods for them according to their orders.”
The city of Xining has several industrial production sites that are known to use forced labour. The hydroelectric equipment plant, which is also reportedly known as “Qinghai Prison No. 5”, is said to house a great number of prisoners, mostly non-Tibetans, TIN said.
Prison officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Another Tibetan, Tashi Gyatso, was reportedly sentenced to 13 years and also held in the hydroelectric equipment plant, but further details are lacking, TIN said.
Lobsang Dargyal was a monk. In 1992 he was arrested for the first time and sentenced to three years for distributing pamphlets with political content such as the slogan “Free Tibet” and “Long live the (Tibetan spiritual leader) Dalai Lama” during the enthronement ceremony of Shingza Rinpoche.
Shingza Rinpoche is believed by Tibetans to be the reincarnation of the mother of Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelugpa school of Buddhism.
Lobsang helped the Rinpoche to escape into exile after having served his prison sentence in 1997.
