Posted by In China on May 14, 2003 at 16:44:21:
New Delhi, Feb. 4 (ANI):
Hundreds of Tibetans living in exile in India took to the streets of national capital on
Tuesday protesting the execution of their religious leader Lobsong Dhondup for his
alleged involvement in bombings in China.
Activists of Tibetan Youth Congress holding anti-China placards shouted slogans:
'Stop killings and genocide in Tibet,' 'U.N. We want Justice' while condemning the
execution and detention of another religious leader.
Twenty-eight-year-old Dhondup was executed in Ghanzi district of China late last
month despite pleas from various human rights groups.
Dhondup, alongwith 52-year-old Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, also a religious leader, was
sentenced to death for alleged involvement in a series of bombings in China in 2001
and 2002, blamed on supporters of Tibetan independence.
Their sentencing sparked an international outcry.
Tenzin Samphel, Vice President of the Tibetan Youth Congress, urged the
international community to pressurise China to stop such acts in Tibet.
'We strongly condemn Chinas execution because despite the international
communitys pressure and United Nations Organisation and various human rights
groups appeals, China insulted without listening to them and executed Lobsang
Dhondup without a transparent and fair trial. We appeal to the international
comunity to pressurise China to respect the human value and human dignity,' he
said.
According to the Chinese media, Dhondup was executed in an inhuman manner.
In a major shift from its usual practice of carrying out executions by shooting at the
back of convicts head, China executed Dhondup using the torture of unimaginable
degree. His ears were cut off, his nose was crushed and his mouth was torn apart.
Tenzin, who carried a death sentence with two years reprieve, started hunger strike on
January 6 while in custody. He is believed to be in weak health.
Sichuan Provincial High Peoples court rejected his appeal and affirmed a death
sentence which had earlier been suspended.
There has been sporadic violence in the Himalyan region of Tibet where many
people resent what they see as Chinese occupation since the Peoples Liberation Army
marched in and imposed Communist rule in 1950.