By Mickey Spiegel
NEW YORK – China’s lines in the sand are not hard to find – and on certain issues the leadership doesn’t care how hard it tramples on human rights to make certain the line stays firm. Tibet is one of those issues.
Recent pretensions to the rule of law notwithstanding, China has a long history of using criminal charges to silence Tibetan activists. Tenzin Delek, a well-respected lama from a predominantly Tibetan community in Sichuan province, is a prime example.
In December 2003, Tenzin Delek was sentenced to death, suspended for two years, on unproven allegations that he took part in a series of bombings. If he “behaves” in prison, he will be spared death and spend the rest of his life behind bars. His alleged co-conspirator, Lobsang Dondrup, was executed on Jan. 26, 2003, immediately after both men’s appeals were turned down.
The trials were closed on the grounds that state secrets were involved. No trial documents or any of the evidence presented have been made available. The court was neither independent nor impartial, and the defendants were denied access to independent legal counsel.
Both before and after the trial, local Communist Party organs publicly denounced Tenzin Delek for destroying national harmony and for hiding under the cloak of religion to engage in “terrorist” activities, though no evidence of these activities has ever been produced.
In early February, Chinese authorities finally disclosed Tenzin Delek’s whereabouts – Chuandong No. 3 Prison, a high security facility in Dazu county, more than 600 kilometers from his home. Contrary to China’s own rules, he is in a facility too far removed for easy access by his family and where word of his treatment and condition will not leak to the community he represents.
Tenzin Delek’s arrest is in many ways the culmination of a decade of renewed repression of activist Tibetans. In 1994, China tightened the screws after increased calls for independence, a series of large-scale political and economic protests. China moved once again to aggressive sinicization of Tibetan areas and a crackdown on Tibetans’ unique forms of religious expression.
China turned the management of monasteries over to non-religious authorities or loyal monks and restricted the number of monasteries and the number of monks in each.
A patriotic education campaign started in the monasteries. Monks were required to renounce the Dalai Lama, support the Chinese-chosen Panchen Lama and sign statements affirming that Tibet was always a part of China. Refusal to sign meant expulsion from the monastery and no chance of joining another.
As implementation of the policies moved eastward from the Tibetan Autonomous Region to predominately Tibetan communities in the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai, Gansu, and Yunnan, monks such as Tenzin Delek were identified as obstacles. He, for one, went on building monasteries, training monks, and preaching the Dalai Lama’s creed of Tibetan autonomy. He took on social work and institution building to meet the social and economic needs of his community. In short, he symbolized the competing power of monastic influence and a distinct Tibetan cultural identity.
When Tenzin Delek became a target of officialdom, local residents took part in an unprecedented march to the county seat and organized a massive petition drive. Their message was simple: Tenzin Delek did nothing wrong and broke no law. As one supporter put it, “He took care of the needy, preserved the Tibetan language and instructed us on how to conduct our lives, and helped us stop gambling and drinking. If you must arrest him, come and arrest us, too.”
Local officials took them at their word. Police interrogated 60 people. At least six were sentenced to terms ranging between one and seven years. At least two remain locked up. Over 100 fled the community. Some went into hiding.
The local community is quiet now. Chinese officials say residents have learned that Tenzin Delek was a charlatan, that he used religion to cover his black deeds.
The reality is that local residents know it has become too dangerous to continue to assert their rights. They have asked the international community to take up their cause, not just for the sake of Tenzin Delek’s freedom, but to ensure that Tibetans have the rights to speak their minds without facing persecution, to organize on their own behalf, and to preserve the cultural identity that so many in the West and elsewhere admire so much. Unfortunately, the silence of western governments in recent years has been deafening.
The writer is a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch.
