Kangra, January 28 – The Tibetan Government in-Exile and the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) today expressed deep shock over the reported execution of Lobsang Dhondup, a religious leader of Tibetans, in Tibet and the rejection of appeal by Tulku Tenzin Delek, a 52-year-old senior Buddhist monk, after their secret trial.
The Tibetan community today gathered at McLeodganj to mourn the execution of Lobsang Dhondup and to commemorate his sacrifice for the sake of the Tibetan people.
The spokesman of the Tibetan Government in-Exile, Mr Thubten Samphel, in a statement here today said, “I am deeply disappointed by this reported summary execution because we believe the trial was not fair and transparent. The Chinese authorities have not been able to produce compelling evidence to warrant both trial or execution. We appeal to the international community to bring to the attention of the Chinese authorities the deep concern of all people who live by normal civilised codes of behaviour”.
He said Lobsang Dhundup was given immediate death sentence, and Tulku Tenzin Delek was sentenced to death with a suspension of two years at Karze intermediate people’s court last month. Both had appealed against their sentences, Mr Samphel said.
He said that the legal process that unheld their appeal was not transparent and fair. He said a taped message, smuggled out of the Chinese jail where Tulku Tenzin Delek was imprisoned, had been received by the Tibetan activists wherein he had insisted on his being innocent.
Mr Samphel said that on December 2, the Karze people’s intermediate court had handed down the death sentence on Telku Tenzin Delek and Lobsung Dhondup after a summary trial and were charged with masterminding the Chengdu bomb blast of April 3,2002. They were taken into custody on April 7 last year.
Mr Samphel said that Mr Delek was one of the most revered spiritual figures in Karze and was for long engaged in alleviating the lot of the Tibetan people and to rejuvenate the Tibetan culture and language.
Mr Samphel said that the news about the execution of Lobsang Dhondup was unexpected and we hope that Tulku Tenzin Delek would not suffer the same fate. Thubten Samphel Lobsand Dhondup was executed at 7 a.m. on January 26 in Darstedo. Mr Samphel said, “Normally executions in China and elsewhere are a public event, deliberately made public to intimidate potential trouble-makers. However, Lobsung Dhundup was executed without public knowledge, perhaps to avoid rousing Tibetan passions”.
Meanwhile, the TCHRD said the release of some prominent political prisoners by the Chinese Government had raised hopes but this execution and the court verdicts had shattered the hopes of the Tibetans as the verdicts were unexpected and unjust.
The international community should put pressure on the Chinese Government to overturn the death sentence and initiate a fair and transparent retrial of Mr Delek. He asked China to respond to Dalai Lama’s initiative for a negotiated settlement of the Tibetan problem.
