DANGEROUS CROSSING: - International Campaign for Tibet

INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR TIBET
May/June
Tibetans residing in Nepal are well aware of the broad powers held by Nepal’s security
forces, and the possibility of police intervention and the looming threat of detention
that exists during every community gathering (public or private). According
to U.S. State Department findings, overall in 2011 the Nepal “government limited
freedom of assembly for the Tibetan community,” and that “the assembly of Tibetans
often led to strict restrictions that limited cultural freedoms.” 27
In addition to the substantial powers authorized to Nepal’s Chief District Officers
that are routinely on display, Tibetans are vulnerable to arbitrary detention under
Nepal’s broadly defined Public Security Act, which stipulates that security officials
may detain individuals for up to 12 months without charge if they are deemed,
among other things, a threat to domestic security and tranquility, or a threat to amicable
relations with other countries. In addition Tibetan protestors are vulnerable to
the Public Offenses Act, which allows for up to 25 days in detention without charge
for crimes such as disturbing the peace.
It was the Public Offenses Act that was cited by Kathmandu’s Deputy Superintendent
of Police, Shyam Lal Gyawali, in attempting to justify why 12 Tibetans were
detained on June 21, 2011, after hundreds of Tibetans gathered for a candlelight
vigil at the Boudha stupa in Kathmandu. The Tibetans had gathered to express solidarity
with those Tibetans living under the security crackdown in Tibet. Nepal police
initially attempted to break up the vigil, which consisted of hundreds of Tibetans
chanting prayers and carrying Tibetan and Nepali national flags, Buddhist flags and
banners. The police ultimately allowed the vigil to continue but only after confiscating
the flags and banners.
An article about the vigil appeared on June 24 in The Himalayan Times citing Shyam
Lal Gyawali as saying: “The police had to intervene after the Tibetan exiles sporting
headbands and t-shirts reading ‘Free Tibet’ tried to stage an anti-China protest…
We have charged the Free Tibet activists under Some (sic) Public Offences Act for
their involvement in disturbing peace in the society.” 28 The prosecutor’s office in
Kathmandu also later accused the Tibetans of organizing an “anti-China” activity
“harmful to China-Nepal foreign relations,” according to an ICT monitor in Kathmandu.
While Chinese government officials advocated for the continued detention of the
12 Tibetans, they were held in poor conditions in a basement cell in the Boudha
area. Among them was a 39-year old Tibetan man (whose name is known to ICT)
23