Dharamshala: Chinese authorities wrongfully detained more than 20 Tibetans and severely tortured a Tibetan village head named Gonpo Namgyal to death with the repeated use of electric equipment in detention for several months in Ponkor township, Darlag County in Golog in the traditional Tibetan province of Amdo now incorporated into Qinghai, Sichuan and Gansu provinces.
As per information received, in May 2024, due to the extensive “Pure Mother Tongue” campaign being carried out by the Tibetan Language Association led by Khenpo (Eng: Abbot) Tenpa Dhargye in Golog, the Chinese authorities arrested over 20 Tibetans including Khenpo Tenpa Dhargye and village head Gonpo Namgyal. They were forcibly taken to Golog Prefecture headquarters.
Gonpo Namgyal tragically passed away on 18 December 2024 after suffering severe torture and inhuman treatment by the Chinese police for over seven months while in detention. As reported by the source, Gonpo Namgyal was released from detention after becoming ill, but within three days of his release he passed away. During the preparation of his body for cremation at the Traling Monastery’s crematory, many of his internal organs were discovered to have been burned as a result of electric torture.
A reliable Tibetan source reports that Khenpo Tenpa Dhargye was a well-respected Buddhist teacher deeply cherished by and close to the revered Lama Jigme Phuntsok, a highly respected Tibetan Buddhist teacher who founded the Larung Gar Buddhist Institute in eastern Tibet. Over the course of many years, Khenpo Tenpa Dhargye led a Tibetan language association that conducted numerous campaigns to prevent the loss of mother tongues in the region, which had a significant impact.
Khenpo frequently gave guidance and instruction to Tibetan nomadic communities, including instructions not to slaughter livestock. Since this did not align with the Chinese government’s views, they called him to a meeting in Darlag County in May this year as a pretext to arrest and forcibly take him away. Currently, devoted followers inside Tibet continue to be extremely concerned about Khenpo Tenpa Dhargye’s physical condition. The masses are continuously performing religious rituals and repeatedly requesting monks and other religious practitioners to perform prayers and ceremonies for the Khenpo’s good health and quick release.
The Tibetan people inside Tibet’s efforts to preserve their Tibetan identity, especially the Tibetan language, despite huge threats of persecution and imprisonment from the Chinese government, are of paramount importance with the Communist government’s so-called “Chinese national unity consciousness” framework or policy, which basically meant making Chinese the dominant language by degrading Tibetan from all walks of life.
Khenpo Tenpa Dhargye’s arrest and detention, along with the torturing to death of village head Gonpo Namgyal, who have a significant influence over Tibetans within the region, are a part of Chinese government’s evil and calculated scheme to persecute influential Tibetans under unfair charges of “endangering state security or separatism,” with the goal of reducing Tibetan mobilisation and neutralising Tibetan resistance to the Communist regime.
Until the Communist regime is challenged and Tibetans within Tibet are denied basic human rights as guaranteed by the Chinese Constitution and international human rights law, Tibetan identity will have a dwindling future.
-Report filed by the UN, EU, and the Human Rights Desk, Tibet Advocacy Section, DIIR
