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[ back ] DRAPCHI
NUNS Choeying Kunsang, a Tibetan nun and torture survivor testified for a Congressional Human Rights Caucus briefing. Congressman Eni Faleomavaega (D-AS) chaired. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) and Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney (D-GA) attended. Remarks
to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Thank you for your kind invitation. It is a great honor and privilege to speak for my people in the capital of this great country. I thank you for every effort this country and its people have made on behalf of Tibet and in support of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. I became a nun at age 16. In my nunnery there was little religious teaching as we were forbidden to take teachings from our elders. Anyway, there was little time for religious education, as we had to attend political education sessions given in the nunnery by local authorities. At those times, we were forced to read Chinese propaganda and to denounce His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Those who refused to attend so-called "patriotic" education sessions faced expulsion from their religious community. In my region of Tibet, Penpo, entire nunneries had been closed down as a result of so many expulsions. It was also forbidden to keep photos of His Holiness in the nunnery, so we hid any photos we possessed in our rooms. On 25th February 1995, I, along with seven other nuns, deliberately decided to go to the Bharkor, the remaining Tibetan area of Lhasa around the Jokhang Temple, to denounce the lack of freedom in Tibet. As a nun, I thought that my protest would draw attention to the fact that the Chinese were trying to destroy our religious traditions. We shouted the slogans: "Tibet is independent," "we want human rights in Tibet," "we want religious freedom," and also "long live His Holiness the Dalai Lama." After only a few minutes the police came to arrest us. They started at once to beat us. After they tied our hands, they stuffed cloth into our mouths to silence us. We were then taken to Gutsa detention center. At Gutsa, I was interrogated every day. During these sessions, I was told that I was wrong to protest and shout slogans. I was asked whether my family had sent me to protest, whether I had been sent by foreign countries to protest. I never admitted that I had been wrong and instead I would answer that Tibet was separate from China. Then they would beat me. After six months in Gutsa, I was taken to the People's Intermediary Court in Lhasa for sentencing with the seven other nuns who had been arrested with me in the Barkhor. Two Chinese men were pointed out to us as our lawyers, but they never spoke to us. We could only listen to the accusations against us. For our few minutes of protest, we were charged with "endangering state security" and sentenced to four years in Drapchi prison plus a further two year deprivation of political rights after release. Over the six months in Gutsa I did not see my family at all, although I later learned that they visited repeatedly and tried to leave me proper bedding and food. Before our departure from Gutsa, a pint of blood was extracted from each of us. We were told that the blood was payment for meals taken at Gutsa. I was sent to Drapchi along with sixty other nuns on 30th July 1995. I was placed in "new" Unit 3, a unit for female political prisoners. We were given prison uniforms and forbidden to cut our hair, which was our habit. We were also forbidden to speak any words about religion. For example, we were not allowed to address each other by our religious names, only our lay names. We were not even allowed to say the word "Ani" - the term of address for a Tibetan nun, similar in usage to the word "Sister" for Christian nuns. In Drapchi we were subjected to "thought reform" and "physical reform" so that we would re-enter society as "new" people. "Thought reform" required us to read Chinese political literature and write responses to what we had read. We were even told that if we reformed our thoughts, our sentences would be decreased by several years. If we insisted in our religious or political beliefs, we were beaten. We would be taken one by one into interrogation rooms where we were stripped naked and three or four male guards would beat us with planks of wood and the buckle end of belts or use electric shock batons on us. "Physical reform" consisted of military-style exercises imposed by soldiers from the nearby army camp. For the first three months, we were forced to stand in direct sunlight the whole day and were not allowed to move or talk. Sometimes the guards would put books or cups of water on our heads. If the book fell or water spilt, then you would be beaten. If you helped someone next to you who had fallen, then you would both be beaten. And, of course, all the other political prisoners would be forced to watch, which was very difficult. In the winter, they would throw cold water on the floor and make us stand barefoot on the ice or force us to kneel in the courtyard for hours on end. After the first three months, we were made to run around the prison courtyard all day long. By the end of the day most of us would have collapsed, unable to move anymore, but the soldiers would say that we were feigning collapse and would kick and stomp on us. Four years ago this very day, on 1st May 1998, the prison authorities announced that we would take part in a Chinese flag-raising ceremony to mark International Labour Day. All the prisoners, perhaps 1,000, including some 400 political prisoners, were brought to the prison courtyard and told to sing the Chinese national anthem, which we had been instructed in before hand. Of course, we would not sing that song. Spontaneously, some prisoners began to shout: "No Chinese flag will be raised on Tibetan ground" and "Long Live His Holiness the Dalai Lama." Immediately, the prison guards started to fire shots in the air and beat us hard. Army stationed around the perimeters also participated, and their numbers were increased after some time. They beat us with electric batons, plastic hose pipes filled with sand, belts and rifle butts. It was a terrible melee in which we were trapped. Although I was beaten repeatedly about the head, I could not even discern who was beating me. After three hours, the prison courtyard was entirely red, covered in blood. Five nuns and three monks died as a result of the beatings and torture that followed the May 1998 protests. The prison authorities have never accepted responsibility for the deaths and claim that the deaths were suicides. Many political prisoners had their sentences extended by several years and others were placed in solitary confinement with their hands cuffed and feet bound, some for over six months. All political prisoners were kept locked in their cells permanently after May 1998 and cameras and listening devices were installed so that we were constantly under watch. We were kept like this, twelve to a cell, and I never even saw sunlight until the day I was released, 24th February 1999. Prisoners in Drapchi were allowed one visitor a month for five minutes but officials would arbitrarily suspend this right. For seven months after May 98 no political prisoner was allowed a visitor. Visits would take place in a specially constructed house where you could only see a small part of your visitor's face through a small glass opening and you could not speak freely because of guards on either side. Any food, gifts or medicines for political prisoners would be confiscated, as the guards would say that Drapchi prison provided adequately so there was no need for such things. Sometimes there would be official visitors, Chinese or from abroad, and on these occasions all the prisoners would be given new uniforms to wear. The kitchen would be stocked up with all different types of fresh food, meat and vegetables and we would be warned not to try to talk to the visitors, not even to look at them. Instead, the common criminals would be presented to the visitors as though they were the political prisoners and, when asked about conditions in Drapchi, they would say that there were no beatings, that the food was good and that the Chinese government was looking after them well. Once the visitors left the new uniforms would be taken off again and everything placed in the kitchen would be packed away. Most every political prisoner is in urgent need of medical care but almost none is given in Drapchi. There is a medical center in the prison, but guards accuse political prisoners of feigning illness and will not take them there. It is only when a political prisoner is in a very critical state, beyond help, that the prison authorities release the prisoner back to their families. This is done to avoid a death inside prison. Having seen my friends die in prison - Losang Wangmo, Dekyi Yangzom, Ngawang Kusang, Tashi Lhamo, Kundrol Yangden, Ngawang Dekyi and Ngawang Lochoe -- and also as a direct result of time spent in prison - Kesang, Gyaltsen Kunsang, Dechen - and I never thought that I would survive my sentence. I could never think about the day that I would be released but that day came in 1999, at the end of my four-year sentence. On the day of release I was warned never to speak about my experiences inside Drapchi prison. The guards told me that I would be arrested again if I did and that my sentence would be twice as long. Life after release was like a second prison as I still had a two-year deprivation of political rights period as part of my sentence. I had to report to my local authorities with my parents who were forced to sign a piece of paper ensuring that I would not engage in any future political activities. They also had to cope with weekly visits from local officials who asked questions about my movements and whereabouts and if there was the slightest disturbance in Lhasa then I knew that I was a suspect and that I was being monitored. I had no freedom of movement, no right to seek employment; I had been expelled from my nunnery and was forbidden to join another. Life was very difficult after release, especially for my family who lived in the constant fear that I would be re-arrested and re-imprisoned. I could not talk about what I had been through and I wished for the chance to speak the truth about the situation in Drapchi prison and the May 1998 protests. I realized that I had to leave Tibet if I wanted to be free from persecution and to have freedom of speech, so I decided to flee in April 2000 along with three other nuns who had also been political prisoners in Drapchi. We escaped on foot through the mountains. We hid during the day and walked during the night to avoid being caught and it took twenty nights to reach the Nepal border. At the border we were arrested and imprisoned by the Nepalese border police and held for four days. It was the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu who arranged for our release and onward journey to Dharamsala where I now live in a Tibetan nunnery. I thank you, honorable members of Congress, for your valuable time. By hearing my story, you honor those who have sacrificed their freedom and their lives. Again, I humbly appeal to you to make every effort to secure the release of those Tibetans who are still suffering in jail for holding religious and political beliefs that support the Tibetan Buddhist identity, our love for our homeland and for His Holiness the Dalai Lama. -end- [
photo | tibetan nuns and former political prisoners passang lhamo & chuye kunsang
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