Dharamshala [India] June 27 : The Human Rights Desk of the Department of Information and International Relations for the Central Tibetan Administration published a report on June 26, to honour and acknowledge the countless Tibetan political prisoners and the unimaginable suffering they endured due to Chinese authorities, as stated in the report by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
Since 2000, many Tibetans have tragically lost their lives, whether in prison, shortly after being released, or in hospitals and their residences. These fatalities were not due to natural causes. Instead, they resulted from the systematic torture, prolonged denial of medical care, inhumane conditions, and brutal treatment imposed by authorities merely for exercising basic rights, using their native language, practising their religion, and defending their identity, reported the CTA.
The document titled "Torture Deaths of Tibetan Political Prisoners" seeks to document these tragedies and convey the suffering of Tibetan political prisoners who have died due to Chinese oppression. The report presents individual cases and narratives of Tibetan political prisoners organised under thematic categories such as Beaten to Death, Denial of Medical Treatment, Died Post Prison Release, Illness from Prison, Execution, and Erasing Evidence.
"While many of these detainees suffered various forms of mistreatment, the report is designed to emphasise the most severe aspects of their experiences. These narratives reveal the extreme brutality inflicted within Chinese prisons, the intentional refusal of critical medical care, and the systematic efforts to suppress the truth by eliminating evidence of China's state-sponsored torture," the CTA stated.
In the report, the CTA hoped to keep the memory alive of those Tibetans who died while fighting against the "brutal oppression" of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CTA called on the international community to amplify its calls, to uphold international human rights law, and hold China accountable for its abuses and crimes against Tibetans' rights and identity.
In the report, the CTA stated, "In publishing this report, we hope to keep the memory alive of those Tibetans who perished fighting against the brutal oppression of the Chinese Communist Party. Their stories must be heard. We need to know their names. We call on the international community to amplify its calls, to uphold international human rights law, and to hold China accountable for its abuses and crimes against Tibetans' rights and identity."
"Torture is universally condemned under international law, and as a State party to the UN Convention against Torture (CAT) as early as 1988, China is under an obligation to cease these abuses. And yet torture in Tibet continues to be systematic, normalised by a legal system that treats peaceful activism as a matter of national security", it added.