Tibetan Environmentalist brothers sentenced to 15 years in prison
International environmental organizations/ environmentalists to call for their immediate release. TWA gets Vandana Shiva and Belinda Wright to sign the appeal letter
Dharamsala, June 24, 2010: Karma Samdrup (aged 42), is a prominent Tibetan, a philanthropist and an environmentalist. Karma, along with his brothers Rinchen Samdrup (aged 44) and Chime Namgyal (aged 38) founded the 'Snowlands Three Rivers Environmental Protection Group' that received numerous awards including the 'Earth Prize' from the Friends of Earth, Hongkong, Ford Motor Company Conservation and Environmental Protection Grants, Model Project Grant from the One Foundation founded by Chinese film star Jet Li. All the three brothers are now jailed in the Chinese prisons in Tibet.
Karma Samdrup was detained in January this year and his trial began in the month of May 2010. The criminal charges (trumped-up) levelled against him are untrue and bear no significance. Karma's trail ended on the 24th June at a court in Xinjiang and he has been sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. On the 24th of June, Karma Samdrup's lawyer pu zhiqiang tweeted "Karma Samdrup 15 yr sentence, 5 yr deprivation political rights, 10K RMB fine." During the court proceedings, Karma confessed that the prison authorities lashed out brutal torture methods against him. Karma's wife Dolkar Tso who was present at the court recounts "the account we heard (from Karma Samdrup) afterward exceeded our worst imaginations, we heard about hundreds of different cruel torture methods, maltreatment around the clock, hitherto unheard of torture instruments and drugs, hard and soft tactics, and even of fellow prisoners being grouped together to extract a confession."
Two days before the final court verdict was out, Karma's wife seemed positive. In a moving and remarkable blog 'Praying, an account of June 22, 2010,' also available on http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2010/06/praying-blogpost-by-dolkar-tso-wife-of.html, Dolkar Tso wrote "but we are all sure that our Karma Samdrup is no criminal, he is innocent, an unyielding and magnanimous person who can withstand any storm. We all know that he is not a criminal!! As long as the court acts justly and fairly, he will certainly come back to us very soon. He will come back home and embrace his two daughters and also embrace freedom. This is the life, which he should live."
Rinchen Samdrup, 44, Karma Samdrup's brother was sentenced on July 3 to five years imprisonment on charges of "incitement to split the nation" after an oblique reference to the Dalai Lama appeared on a website he ran. The website now remains forcibly shut down.
Chime Namgyal, 38, the brother of Karma and Rinchen Samdrup. He began serving a 21-month sentence in a labor camp in August 2009 on charges, which according to his sentencing document, included compiling information about the local environment. As a result of having been tortured, he can no longer walk or eat without assistance. When Chime Namgyal and Rinchen Samdrup were detained on August 7, 2009, their elderly mother was beaten unconscious by police.
In the aftermath of the arrest and detention of the three environmentalist brother's arrest, three relatives of the brothers have also been detained, interrogated and jailed. Tashi Topgyal (Chinese transliteration: Zhaxi Duojia), who was detained by about a dozen policemen in a raid on the place he was staying in Lhasa on July 5, is a well-educated Tibetan-language teacher from the same village as Rinchen Samdrup, namely Zirong Village in Gonjo (Chinese: Gongjue) County, in Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu) Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region. He also participated in Rinchen Samdrup's environmental protection work. He had been visiting the capital in order to ascertain the whereabouts of another Tibetan detained in connection with the case of the three brothers.
Rinchen Dorje, Karma Samdrup's Chinese translator 12 years ago when conducting business in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region north of Tibet, has been missing since March 2010 and is believed to be in detention. Sonam Chonpel, who is in his sixties, a cousin of the three brothers, is now serving 18 months in a 're-education through labor' camp.
The mother of the three brothers, who is in her mid-seventies, was seriously injured and treated in hospital after being beaten unconscious when armed police detained two of her sons from home on August 7 last year, according to new information from the area. The same sources say that she was unconscious for several hours and taken to hospital in Yushu in neighboring Qinghai Province by relatives where she had to undergo an operation. The police officers who beat her were led by Chamdo Prefecture Deputy Party Secretary Chen Yue, who is believed to be still in the same position.
Twenty villagers from Gonjo County in Chamdo, the brothers' home area, were detained in Chamdo, interrogated and tortured for 40 days after they went to Beijing to petition against the brothers' detention.
Karma's wife Dolkar Tso made an appeal for a fair retrial after the June 24 verdict but it was rejected on August 2 this year. Karma's family is now requesting the international environmental groups to raise his case and press for his release.
Environment being one of the common areas of interest between Tibetans and Chinese, has always been an opportunity for China to demonstrate progress - in developing civil society, encouraging implementation of environmental protection. Karma Samdrup and his brothers are involved in the protection of their environment and culture - pillars of their community. At a time of environmental crisis and given Tibet's importance as source of most of Asia's major rivers, the conservation and protection efforts of individuals like Karma Samdrup and his brothers are essential - for China as well as Tibet. The Tibetans inside and outside of Tibet are feeling desolate over the distressing news of Karma Samdrup's sentence.
The Tibetan Women's Association and the Tibet Third Pole urge the recognized environmental organization/ environmentalist to call for the immediate release of Karma Samdrup, Rinchen Samdrup and Chime Namgyal, by signing the Appeal Letter.
Please write to twawedd@gmail.com and to climate@tibetthirdpole.org
Tibet Third Pole (T3P) is an initiative of members of International Tibet Support Network, Tibet Justice Center, Tibetan Women's Association, Free Tibet Denmark, Students for a Free Tibet, Gu Chu Sum Movement for Tibet, Norwegian Tibet Committee, Tibet Support Committee, Denmark and Free Tibet.
Tibet Third Pole was formed to show the world how climate change is threatening Tibet's ecosystems which are necessary to life in Tibet and Asia. Also, to show the world how China's half-century of failed policies in Tibet continue to exacerbate this human rights crisis. Tibet Third Pole began as an international working group of Tibetans and Tibet supporters' which aimed to bring light to issues during COP 15 including climate change in Tibet and China's coercive resettlement of nomads in Tibet. T3P advocate for the fundamental human right of Tibetans to environmental self-determination in their homeland as they seek to adapt to climate change.