Free These Women

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/* Written 11:26 pm  Feb 28, 1994 by DEBRA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx in igc:hrnet.women */
/* ---------- "Free These Women" ---------- */
## author     : ctn-editors@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
## date       : 27.02.94

--------------------------   CanTibNet Newsletter   ------------------------
   Published by:     The Canada-Tibet Committee
   Editorial Board:  Brian Given <bgiven@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
                     Nima Dorjee <amnesty@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
                     Conrad Richter <conradr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
                     Tseten Samdup <tibetlondon@xxxxxxxxxx>
   Submissions and subscriptions to:
                     ctn-editors@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
                     or fax to: +1-905-640-6641
   Send us your comments, announcements, news or items for discussion.
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Issued ID: 94/2/27  21:00 GMT     Complied by:  Tseten Samdup
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FREE THESE WOMEN
Join our campaign for Human Rights


Nobel Peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi has been under
house arrest for almost five years for voicing opinions that
the authorities in Burma do not want to hear.  She is must
one of many women throughout the world who have been
imprisoned because of their opinions or beliefs.  They have
all shown great courage despite risk to themselves and to
their families.  Non of these women has been involved in or
has encouraged violence of any kind - nor have they been
given a fair trial.  Help us to fight for their cause by
joining amnesty International's campaign for their release.

[The magazine' special focus on women under arrest features
four prominent human rights campaigners - Burma (Aung San
Suu Kyi), China (Gao Yu), Tibet (Rigzin Choenyi) and Cuba
(Maria Elena Aparicio).  This is a women's magazine
published in different parts of the world.]

TIBET

Following a history of threatened independence, Tibet fell
to the Chinese for the second time in 1950. Nine years
later, an uprising was brutally suppressed, and Tibet's
leader the Dalai Lama, was forced to flee to Nepal. Last
year, the Chinese announced a crack down on pro-
independence groups, especially monasteries.

   The number of known detainees in Tibet went up by 30 per
   cent last year. Many will be 're-educated through
   labour'.

(Photo of Rigzin Choenyi)
RIGZIN CHOENYI
23, Drapchi Prison, Lhasa Tibet

   On 22 September 1989, when Rigzin Choenyi was nineteen,
   she and five other Buddhist nuns from the Shungsep
   nunnery in Lhasa gathered on the pilgrim age path that
   doubles as the market place in central Lhasa. Together
   they shouted slogans about the issue that remains central
   to their lives: that Tibet should be independent, free
   from Chinese rule.

   The women were arrested soon afterwards. According to the
   official newspaper, Tibet Daily they had 'broken martial
   law regulations'. (Martial law had been declared in the
   city in March 1989 after three days of unrest. It was
   lifted in May 1990.) This period, however, has nothing to
   do with the number of prisoners who are detained in
   Tibet.      Rigzin was sentenced to seven years'
   'imprisonment', which she is believed to be serving in
   Drapchi, the largest prison in Tibet. Very little is
   known about the condition and whereabouts of political
   prisoners currently held in Tibet. In May 1993 EC
   ambassadors visited Drapchi and were shown the common
   areas. When they asked to visit a 'reform through-labour'
   camp they were turn ed down. Early in the visit, they
   heard that three Tibetans, who were said to have compiled
   information to give to the delegation, had been arrested.
   When the ambassadors asked for an explanation and to meet
   the prisoners, they were told by the Chinese authorities
   that the arrests were unconnected to their visit.

   Most details about the conditions in Tibet come from
   those who have been released, and who have made the long
   journey, across the Himalayas, to Nepal. They can never
   return to their homeland while the Chinese remain in
   power. One of these 27-year-old nun Sonam Drolkar,
   described six months of brutal torture, which brought her
   close to death before she escaped in 1991.

   Sonam Drolkar was held in solitary confinement for 300
   days without charge or trial. She had no mattress or
   blanket, was handcuffed 24 hours a day and received
   medical treatment only when the prison doctor warned that
   she would die without it.  Wire was wrapped around her
   body at the beginning of each 'interview', and
   electricity would be switched on if she failed to answer
   questions. By the time she lost consciousness, her body
   would be burnt, and when she came round, it would be
   blue. This happened every other day for six months. Sonam
   was sexually violated with an electric baton, and beaten
   she believes, with iron rods, but she cannot be sure
   because she lost consciousness so often. The torture
   party consisted of both women and men. After six months
   she began vomiting blood and when, after about ten
   months, she was allowed out of solitary confinement, her
   eyes were dam aged and she could not face daylight.

   Told that she faced life imprisonment, she was offered
   freedom in exchange for names of activists. ' denied
   knowing anybody, but this time was so sick that she v
   admitted to the police hospital, wh doctors took the view
   that there v little point in treating her as was about to
   die.

   Sonam was told that if she co raise the money, she would
   be transferred to a better hospital. Altho~ it is almost
   impossible to raise fur in Tibet, where people have no
   more to spare, the funds were found c she was moved. When
   fit enough Sonam made her escape to Nepal. The escape
   route for Tibetans another test of human endurance is
   largely made on foot and can take months - frostbite is a
   common hazard and the Nepalese border guards are not
   always compliant. It could not be done without secret
   support of other Tibetans. Since Sonam's arrival in
   Nepal, she has received help from various international
   groups.

   The Tibet Support Group in London campaigns for the
   Tibetans' right choose their own future, and it h
   gathered a horrific catalogue of torture techniques used
   on political prisoners:  cigarettes are stubbed out their
   skin, and electric-shock baton are used on the mouth, on
   the neck and in the anus. Often the prisoner's feet are
   wetted to increase the sever of electrical impact.
   Beatings can lc from sunrise to sunset, during which time
   prisoners receive no water, a their only food is two
   small lumps tinned momo (plain dumplings).

   There are five blocks at Drapchi each one with about
   thirteen cells holding between 75 and 100 prisoners. Of
   these, approximately six inmates will be Chinese, the
   rest Tibetan. In 1989, a new block was built especially
   for political prisoners, and it is believed that Rigzin
   Choenyi is now in her fifth year in Block Three - the
   women's unit. Of the nuns arrested with her, Choenyi
   Lhamo, Sonam Choedron and Konchok Drolma were sentenced
   to three years Gutsa detention centre, where they were
   're-educated through labour'. According to unconfirmed
   report Konchok Drolma was given a further two-year
   sentence.

   Although the Foreign Office holds a list of those
   political prisoner causing most concern - it includes
   Rigzin's name - they are reluctant single out one
   particular prisoner, preferring to deal with the issue
   collectively. 'We try to form a joint position in the
   European Community over the question of political
   prisoners - as group we carry more weight,' said a
   spokesman. 'Whenever we have high-level visitors in
   China, we take the opportunity to refer to the plight of
   the prisoners. We like to think the Chinese response has
   changed they listen to us now, which makes change from
   ten or fifteen years ago. But these things take a long
   time.'