Death Sentences
URGENT ACTION: Up to four Tibetans executed for taking part in protests in March 2008
22 October 2009: China has executed up to four Tibetans for their roles in the protests in Tibet last year, according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) who cited multiple sources. Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak, Penkyi and reportedly a fourth unidentified Tibetan, were executed in Lhasa on 20 October.
Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak were originally sentenced to death on 8 April 2009. They had been charged with "starting fatal fires" in which, according to Xinhua (the official Chinese state-run news agency), seven Chinese people died in Lhasa on 14 March 2008, when four days of peaceful protests by Tibetan monks in Lhasa escalated into city-wide unrest. A Xinhua statement on 8 April 2009 said they "have to be executed to assuage the people's anger". Judicial procedure calls for death sentence convictions to be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court before sentences are carried out, but no information is available if such reviews occurred in these cases.
The identity of the other Tibetans believed to have been executed - Penkyi, and reportedly a fourth person - remains unclear. Three Tibetans received suspended death sentences on arson charges in April 2009. Gangtsu and Tenzin Phuntsog were given death sentences suspended for two years on the same day Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak were sentenced. In addition, a life sentence was handed to Dawa Sangpo. On 21 April 2009, Xinhua reported that three Tibetan women had been sentenced for charges of arson which led to the deaths of six people. Penkyi from Sakya received a death sentence suspended for two years, another Penkyi from Nyemo was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Chime Lhamo from Namling was sentenced to 10 years.
China's decision to execute these Tibetans is an affront to international judicial standards. These executions are clearly politically motivated, and concerns that those convicted did not have a fair trial are well-founded. The executions show that China will use all methods at its disposal to intimidate Tibetans and crush all perceived opposition to its occupation of Tibet.
March and April 2008 saw the largest protests in Tibet for 50 years. A wave of protests began in Lhasa on 10 March 2008 and, since that time, more than 150 separate protests have taken place across the Tibetan Plateau, the overwhelming majority of which were non-violent in nature. The response by the Chinese authorities to these protests was brutal and severe. It is estimated that over 4,000 Tibetans were detained in connection to the protests and the whereabouts of another 1,200 people remains unknown.
Please act now.... please take part in this action which calls on Wu Aiying, Minister of Justice, to stop any further executions in Tibet. This action demands that:
• executions in Tibet are stopped immediately;
• all remaining death sentences are commuted;
• any further trials are conducted openly and fairly;
• all cases related to events of March and April 2008 are given a suspension until a full and independent inquiry into events around these dates is held;
• a full list of the names and whereabouts of all Tibetans still detained in relation to last years events is provided;
• no prisoner is subjected to torture or other ill-treatment, they are granted the right to regular visits by family members, have access to lawyers of their choice and given any necessary medical treatment needed.
UPDATE: on 23 October the Chinese Embassy in London confirmed to the UK Government that two executions had taken the place in Tibet; Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak. The embassy maintained that reports of a further two were "rumours" and "they had not been executeted yet".
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