Dalai Lama praises Illinois for banning death penalty

The Dalai Lama

CHICAGO— The Dalai Lama praised Illinois for recently abolishing the death penalty during a talk Sunday, but the Tibetan spiritual leader steered clear of politically sensitive issues related to China.

Comments by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate to more than 10,000 admirers at the University of Illinois at Chicago came after China angrily rebuked President Barack Obama for meeting with the Dalai Lama on Saturday.

The only politics the 76-year-old touched on was the decision earlier this year by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn to sign legislation banning capital punishment. He praised Quinn, who briefly joined the Dalai Lama on stage.

"This state abolished the death sentence," the Tibetan Buddhist monk said. "When I heard that, I immediately shook hands with the governor (before the event started) and said congratulations. ... I really appreciated it."

Once on stage, dressed in crimson-red and gold robes, he gave Quinn a traditional blessing by placing a simple white silk scarf around the governor's neck. In response, Quinn bowed slightly and tapped his hand on his heart.

A law ending the death penalty took effect July 1. Quinn signed it after years of stories of men sentenced to die for crimes they didn't commit. Illinois had executed 12 men since 1977, but none since 1999.

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Source: Chicago Tribune, July 17, 2011

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China sentences Tibetan to suspended death sentence over 2008 riots

May 26, 2010: the Lhasa Intermediate People's Court in China sentenced Tibetan Sonam Tsering, 23, to a suspended death sentence, the India-based Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

Tsering, who was born in Ganzi, allegedly rioted and led others to riot in 2008 by setting cars and shops on fire and overturning police vehicles.

The Center said Sonam Tsering is the seventh Tibetan so far to be sentenced to death for the riots, including two already executed.

Source: Associated Press, May 26, 2010

Amnesty Condemns Widespread Misuse Of Death Penalty

London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International has flayed the blatant misuse of death penalty as a political weapon in several countries with China, Iran, Iraq and Sudan topping the list.

In its annual report on capital punishment, Amnesty noted that despite an overwhelming majority favoring abolition of the practice, its extensive and politicized use continued.

"Even as world opinion and practice shift inexorably towards abolition, the extensive and politicized use of the death penalty continues," it said.

Asia, the Middle East and North Africa accounted for majority of executions with 714 people executed in 18 countries in 2009.

Of these 366 people were executed in Iran, 120 in Iraq and 52 in the U.S. and the executions were carried out by "hanging, shooting, beheading, stoning, electrocution and lethal injection."

Saudi Arabia and Iran were criticized for putting to death juvenile offenders in violation of international law.

China is believed to have executed more people in 2009 than all the countries put together, but the actual figures are not available since Beijing maintains that it is a state secret.

Even though China claimed fewer executions since 2007 after the introduction of a mandatory review of death sentences by a higher court, Amnesty maintained that "evidence from previous years and a number of current sources indicates that the figure remains in the thousands."

"The Chinese authorities claim that fewer executions are taking place. If this is true, why won't they tell the world how many people the state put to death?," Claudio Cordone, Amnesty's Interim Secretary-General asked.

The Amnesty report particularly referred to the executions of Tibetans in the wake of the political unrest there, and those carried out in China's restive northwestern Xinjiang region.

Amnesty also expressed concern over the killing of a British national, Akmal Shaikh, executed for alleged smuggling of drugs into China and people sentenced to death for financial fraud there.

Saudi Arabia, which publicly beheaded at least 69 people in 2009, was carrying out executions "at an alarming rate," while there was a spurt in the number of Iranians sentenced to death in the aftermath of the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad.

Amnesty, meanwhile, reiterated its view about death penalty being an "affront to human dignity."

However, African States Togo and Burundi became 94th and 95th countries to abolish the death penalty and was hailed for doing so and no executions took place in Europe or the member states of erstwhile Soviet Union.

Iran and Iraq which are placed 2nd and 3rd on the Amnesty list were part of the famous "Axis-of-Evil" trio described by former U.S. President George W Bush during his State Of the Union Address in 2002.

Source: RTT News, March 31, 2010

Tibetan Executions Reported

At least 3 Tibetans are said to have been executed in connection with an anti-Chinese uprising in 2008.

Tibetan exiles and residents of the region say Chinese authorities have executed at least 3 people convicted of rioting during last year's widespread uprising against Chinese rule.

These would be the 1st reported executions in connection with rioting that erupted in March 2008 in Lhasa. Capital punishment is administered only rarely in Tibet, experts say.

A source in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) capital, Lhasa, identified 1 of the men executed as Lobsang Gyaltsen, age 22 or 23, from Lhasas Lubuk township.

"His mother's name is Yudon-la and he has a stepfather. Their living conditions are extremely poor, and they are dependent on food assistance from Lhasa city committee," the source said.

"He was executed for allegedly killing a Chinese national by setting a shop on fire in Lhasa. He was detained around March 14, 2008," the source said.

Before his execution, the source said, Lobsang Gyaltsen was permitted a visit with his mother. I have nothing to say, except please take good care my child and send him to school, he was quoted as telling her.

Others also executed

A 2nd man identified only as Lobsang was also executed, the source said, along with a 3rd man, from the Amdo region, and a woman identified only as Nyimo.

Another source in Lhasa, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said the executions went unmentioned in the official media, which have reported previously on the execution of Uyghurs convicted in connection with deadly rioting in July 2009.

The Uyghurs, a Turkic minority, have like the Tibetans chafed for decades against Chinese rule.

"I got information from Lhasa that 3 Tibetans who were involved in the 2008 protests were executed on Oct. 20, in Lhasa, around 11 a.m.. The Chinese authorities execute Tibetans in secrecy and never reveal details," another source said.

Nawang Obar, leader of an association of former Tibetan political prisoners based in Dharamsala, northern India, also said 3 Tibetans were executed on Oct. 20 at 11 a.m. in Lhasa.

He identified the other 2 people executed as a young woman and a Tibetan youth from Amdo Aba in Sichuan province.

No comment

An official at the Lhasa People's Intermediate Court referred questions about the executions to a colleague and asked reporters to phone back later, at which time the phone rang unanswered.

Rioting rocked Lhasa in March last year and spread to Tibetan-dominated regions of western China, causing official embarrassment ahead of the August 2008 Beijing Olympics. Officials say 21 peopleincluding 3 Tibetan protesters died in the violence.

The Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy reported separately that four people were executed Tuesday.

On Thursday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) released a report saying at least 670 Tibetans have been jailed in 2009 for activities that include peaceful protest or leaking information abroad.

By the end of April 2009, TAR courts had sentenced 84 Tibetans to punishments ranging from fixed jail terms to life, as well as to death or death with a 2-year reprieve, in connection with the 2008 riots, the CECC report said.

The report detailed a widespread "patriotic education" campaign that requires monks and nuns to pass examinations on political texts, agree that Tibet is historically a part of China, and denounce the Dalai Lama.

"The government has in the past year used institutional, educational, legal and propaganda channels to pressure Tibetan Buddhists to modify their religious views and aspirations," the report said.

Source: Radio Free Asia, Oct. 25, 2009

China Executes Four Tibetans In Lhasa Over Spring 2008 Protest

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has received confirmed information from reliable sources that Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak (pictured), Penkyi and an unnamed Tibetan were executed on Tuesday, 20 October 2009 under the supervision of the Lhasa Municipality Intermediate People’s Court for their alleged involvement in last year’s mass protest in the Tibetan capital. Further information is awaited. No information on their execution was reported anywhere in the Chinese state media.

According to sources, the dead body of Lobsang Gyaltsen, from Lubug on the outskirt of Lhasa city, was handed over to his family and his dead body was later known to have been immersed in Kyichu River.

There is no information on whether the defendants appealed their sentences to the Supreme People’s Court after Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People’s Court sentenced Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak to death on 8 April 2009.

According to the Chinese official mouthpiece dated 8 April 2009, Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People’s Court sentenced two people to death (Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak), two to suspended death penalties (Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk) and another (Dawa Sangpo) to life imprisonment on charges of arson causing death. The five were convicted of torching five shops in Lhasa, killing seven people, during the March 14 riot.

On 21 April 2009 the same court, according to the State media, sentenced three Tibetans (Penkyi of Nyemo County and Penkyi of Sakya County and Chime of Namling County) to suspended death, life and 10 years’ imprisonment respectively for setting fires that allegedly killed six people in Lhasa last year. The Centre is highly concerned about the fate of Tibetans who were on suspended death sentences.

The PRC government currently sentences more people to death each year than any other nation in the world. TCHRD condemns the executions of four Tibetans and urges PRC government to show restraint and to grant its citizens fair trials and to abide by the basic human rights of all of its peoples, regardless of their ethnicity.

TCHRD remains unconditionally opposed to the use of the death penalty in all cases as a violation of the fundamental right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. It should also be noted that the death penalty has never shown to have a special deterrent effect nor should state use it to justify the wrong done by the defendant. For instance in the case of two Tibetans (Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak) the state media earlier reported that both "have to be executed to assuage the people's anger.” Such eyeball for eyeball approach is in no way a justification of giving death sentence. The execution of four Tibetans are further proof of China’s unwillingness to abide by the United Nations Global Moratorium on the Death Penalty, adopted in 2007, which establishes a suspension on executions with the view to abolish the death penalty.

TCHRD expresses strongest condemnation and grief over the shocking executions. The Centre also expresses serious concern over the fate of other Tibetans with suspended death sentences. Toward this end, the Centre seeks immediate and urgent intervention by the UN Special Rapporteur on Extra Judicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Execution, governments and the international community over this unlawful execution.

Source: TCHRD , tchrd.org, October 22nd, 2009

Tibetan protesters executed for Lhasa riot killings

Tibetan exiles have reported the first executions of those convicted for rioting last year in Lhasa, with at least two people put to death in a rare implementation of capital punishment in the restive region.

Two Tibetans convicted of arson and sentenced to death in April were executed on Tuesday morning in Lhasa, reported The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, which is based in the Indian town of Dharamsala — the home in exile of the Dalai Lama.

It said that Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak had been sentenced to death for their part in setting fire to five shops in the Tibetan capital, killing seven people, in the riot that rocked Lhasa in March last year. Officials say that 21 people — including three Tibetan protesters — died in the violence, which embarrassed Beijing just as it was preparing to stage the Olympic Games and prompted a security crackdown across the Himalayan region.

The body of Mr Gyaltsen had been returned to his family and then submitted to a river burial — an unusual form of funeral rite that is more common in southeastern Tibet. Sky burial is the usual ceremony in Lhasa. The ashes of Loyak were returned to his family, the centre said.

The centre reported that two other people may also have been executed. One had been sentenced to death, suspended for two years, a form that in almost all cases amount to life in prison. The fourth had been jailed for life.

The use of the death penalty has been extremely rare in Tibet over the past two decades, apparently amid anxiety that such punishments could set off renewed outbursts of anti-Chinese unrest.

In September 1987 two Tibetans were executed after a public rally in the Lhasa sports stadium that 14,000 people — mostly government workers — were required to attend. While those executed were convicted of ordinary criminal offences, the timing was thought to have been intended to convey a political message to Tibetans, since it came only a week after the Dalai Lama had publicised a peace plan in Washington.

Within days, Lhasa erupted in violence when Tibetans rushed through the streets calling on the Chinese to leave Tibet and setting fire to a police station opposite the Jokhang Temple in the city centre on October 1. More riots followed in early 1988 and in 1989, when martial law was imposed in the city.

The next executions were not until 1990 when two Tibetans accused of planning to escape from prison after receiving suspended death sentences on murder charges were shot by firing squad. Internal court documents showed that the pair had also started a pro-independence cell while in prison, along with other inmates.

The only other reported executions came during a nationwide crackdown on crime in 1996. State media said that 29 people, including 18 Tibetans, were put to death in various Tibetan cities. Across China, more than 2,200 people were executed in the "Strike Hard" campaign.

In the only politically linked execution to be publicly acknowledged, Lobsang Dondup a nomad, was executed in January 2003 in a Tibetan area of neighbouring Sichuan province for a series of bomb attacks over the previous four years.

Source: TIMESONLINE,Oct. 23, 2009

Olympic Torch out of sight as relay begins

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- There appeared to be a dramatic change in plans in San Francisco Wednesday as the Olympic Torch disappeared from public view as its controversial run through the city got under way.

Thousands of demonstrators were in the city to line a course that was shortened several times, a source involved in the planning of the event said.
The torch was lit in a short ceremony at AT&T Park in front of hundreds of pro-Chinese supporters, who waved Chinese, American and Olympic flags.
But from the park, the runners, accompanied by Chinese security forces, went into a security warehouse.

Vehicles were seen leaving the building moments later.
Mayor Gavin Newsom had said the route along the waterfront -- already cut from eight to six miles -- could be changed up to and even during the run itself. Read more>>>

Protest as Olympic torch is lit

OLYMPIA, Greece (CNN) -- A lone protester managed to breach the tight security during the Olympic torch lighting ceremony in Greece Monday.

The man rushed behind the podium as China's Olympic chief was speaking.

He tried to unfurl an unidentified banner, but was quickly apprehended by security who escorted him away.

Meanwhile committee chief Liu Qi continued to make his speech in Chinese while the commotion went on behind him.

The camera cut away from the scene until the protester had been removed.

The torch was lit moments later as it began its epic began its 130-day, 137,000-kilo meters (85,000-miles) journey.

China's human rights records has been under scrutiny from the international committee in the lead up to what promises to be one of the most controversial Olympic Games.

Anti-China protests began in Tibet's main city, Lhasa, on March 10 and gradually escalated. Lhasa saw at least two days of violence and there have also been violent protests in provinces which border Tibet. Chinese officials estimated the death toll at 22 from Chinese officials, while the Tibetan government said at least 99 people lost their lives.

Reporters Without Borders, a group based in France that seeks to protect journalists around the world, claimed responsibility for the protest. View map of all countries torch will visit »

The group said three members, including the group's secretary general Robert Menard, managed to get into the ceremony without being stopped with flags.

A spokesman said it was intended to demand that China live up to the promise it made to respect human rights when it was awarded the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Olympic torch It will go from the site of ancient Olympia in Greece to Beijing, China, where the 2008 summer games will begin in August. Read all about history of the Olympic torch

The mammoth trip is the longest ever in Olympic history.

The flame was lit by focusing the sun's rays on a concave steel mirror at the ruins of the Temple of Hera in Olympia.

Greek actress Maria Nafpliotou, portraying the High Priestess, lit the first torch. Alexandros Nikolaidis, a Greek athlete who won a silver medal in taekwondo at the 2004 Olympics, then carried the flame for the first mile.

China's Olympic swimming gold medalist, Luo Xuejuan, took the flame from Nikolaidis. Another 603 bearers will run the torch through Greece, culminating in Athens on March 30, where the torch will be handed over to China for a flight to Beijing.

After a ceremonial arrival in Beijing, the flame will move around the world through April. At the beginning of May, it begins a three-month trek through at least 111 Chinese cities in more than 30 provinces and regions.

A second flame will attempt a side trip sometime in May -- depending on weather conditions -- to the top of Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, along the Tibet-Nepal border.

The most controversial leg of the torch relay is planned for June, when it is scheduled to be carried through Tibet and three neighboring provinces where violent unrest broke out this month.

Olympic officials insisted last week that the relay in these areas will proceed as planned.

"All the preparations for the torch relay in Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu are proceeding very well," Beijing Olympics organizer Jiang Xiaoyu said.

The flame is set to arrive in Beijing on August 6, where it will be paraded around the city until entering the stadium for the Olympics opening ceremony on August 8.

While much of the trip will be aboard a chartered jet, tens of thousands of torchbearers -- 19,400 in China alone -- will carry the flame on foot through 23 cities on five continents and then throughout China.

A second flame will attempt a side trip sometime in May -- depending on weather conditions -- to the top of Mt. Everest, the world's highest peak, along the Tibet-Nepal border.

The most controversial leg of the torch relay is planned for June, when it is scheduled to be carried through Tibet and three neighboring provinces where violent unrest broke out this month.

Olympic officials insisted last week that the relay in these areas will proceed as planned.

"All the preparations for the torch relay in Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai and Gansu are proceeding very well," Beijing Olympics organizer Jiang Xiaoyu said.

The flame is set to arrive in Beijing on August 6, where it will be paraded around the city until entering the stadium for the Olympics opening ceremony on August 8.

In addition to visiting cities in Greece and China, runners plan to carry the torch to countries including Kazakhstan, Russia, France and USA.

Just before the mainland China stretch, the flame will also pass through China's two special administrative regions, Hong Kong and Macao.

Source: CNN.com

Chinese troops parade handcuffed Tibetan prisoners in trucks

The Chinese army drove through the streets of Lhasa today parading dozens of Tibetan prisoners in handcuffs, their heads bowed, as troops stepped up their hunt for the rioters in house-to-house searches.

As the midnight deadline approached for rioters to surrender, four trucks in convoy made a slow progress along main roads, with about 40 people, mostly young Tibetan men and women, standing with their wrists handcuffed behind their backs, witnesses said.

A soldier stood behind each prisoner, a hand on the back of their neck to ensure their heads were bowed.

Loudspeakers on the trucks broadcast calls to anyone who had taken part in the violent riots on Friday - in which Han Chinese and Hui Muslim were stabbed and beaten and shops and business set on fire - to turn themselves in. Read more>>>

Source: The London Times

Chinese Police Clash With Tibet Protesters

BEIJING — Violence erupted Friday morning in a busy market area of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, as Buddhist monks and other ethnic Tibetans clashed with Chinese security forces. Witnesses say angry Tibetan crowds burned shops, cars, military vehicles and at least one tourist bus.

The chaotic scene was the latest, and most violent, confrontation in a series of protests that began on Monday and now represent a major challenge to the ruling Communist Party as it prepares to play host to the Olympic Games in August.

Beijing is facing the most serious and prolonged demonstrations in the remote Himalayan region since the late 1980s, when it suppressed a rebellion there with lethal force that left scores and possibly hundreds of ethnic Tibetans dead. The leadership is clearly alarmed that a wave of negative publicity could disrupt its elaborate plans for the Olympics and its hopes that the games will showcase its rising influence and prosperity rather than domestic turmoil. More>>>

Source: The New York Times