Image 15: Gyabdrag Nunnery, in <strong>the</strong> Phenpo area of Lhundrub County, 1993 ..................103Image 16a: Mechungri Nunnery, overlooking <strong>the</strong> Sangyib area of nor<strong>the</strong>ast Lhasa, 1996 .........104Image 16b: Mechungri Nunnery, overlooking nor<strong>the</strong>ast Lhasa from above Sangyib, late 1993 .....105Image 17: Nakar Nunnery, in <strong>the</strong> Phenpo area of Lhundrub County, 1993 .....................106Image 18: Shar Bumpa Nunnery, in <strong>the</strong> Phenpo area of Lhundrub County, 1993 ................107Image 19: Shugsib Nunnery, southwest of Lhasa in Chushur County, 1994 ....................108B. Drapchi Prison ...................................................................109Image 20: Drapchi Prison, early 2000, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north ...............................110Image 21: Drapchi Prison, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north ................................111Image 22: Drapchi Prison, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> east .................................112Image 23: Drapchi Prison, areas <strong>for</strong> male and female political prisoners, early 2000, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north.........................................................................113Image 24: Drapchi Prison, areas <strong>for</strong> male and female political prisoners, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north.........................................................................114Image 25: Drapchi Prison, areas <strong>for</strong> male and female political prisoners, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> east.........................................................................115Image 26: Drapchi Prison, area <strong>for</strong> female political prisoners, early 2000, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north ...116Image 27: Drapchi Prison, area <strong>for</strong> female political prisoners, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north ....117Image 28: Drapchi Prison, area <strong>for</strong> male political prisoners, early 2000, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north ....118Image 29: Drapchi Prison, area <strong>for</strong> male political prisoners, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north .....119C. O<strong>the</strong>r Lhasa prisons ..............................................................120Image 30: Lhasa Prison (<strong>for</strong>merly Utritru), early 2000, viewed from <strong>the</strong> northwest ..............121Image 31: Utritru Prison (later Lhasa Prison), late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> east ..................122Image 32: new prison, mid 1997, viewed from <strong>the</strong> northwest ...............................123Image 33: Sitru Prison (TAR Police Detention Centre), late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> sou<strong>the</strong>ast ......124Image 34: Trisam Re-education Through Labour Centre, late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> west ........125Image 35: Gutsa Prison (Lhasa Shi Police Detention Centre), late 1993, viewed from <strong>the</strong> north ....126
1. IntroductionIn June 1998 five nuns died in <strong>Tibet</strong>'s Number One prison, Drapchi, after five weeks of severe maltreatment. The nuns are<strong>report</strong>ed to have committed suicide toge<strong>the</strong>r by hanging or choking <strong>the</strong>mselves to death in a storeroom within <strong>the</strong>ir cell block.All <strong>the</strong> nuns were close comrades in <strong>the</strong>ir twenties who had been imprisoned <strong>for</strong> peaceful protests. None of <strong>the</strong>m had longperiods left to serve; had <strong>the</strong>y survived, <strong>the</strong> last to complete her sentence would have been released in February this year.The deaths of <strong>the</strong> five nuns can be seen as a culmination of <strong>the</strong> harsh treatment administered over <strong>the</strong> past decade to <strong>the</strong> groupof female political prisoners held in Drapchi's “rukhag (unit) 3”. “Rukhag 3: The Nuns of Drapchi Prison” provides <strong>the</strong> mostcomprehensive documentation so far of a pattern of resistance and repression over an unbroken period of eight yearsbeginning in 1992 and continuing into 1999 inside <strong>the</strong> two sections of Unit 3, where all inmates are female and most arepolitical prisoners. First-hand accounts ga<strong>the</strong>red by TIN give new in<strong>for</strong>mation on <strong>the</strong> circumstances surrounding <strong>the</strong> deathsof <strong>the</strong> five nuns following <strong>the</strong> May 1998 prison protests and provide new and unprecedented detail on previous acts of dissentwithin <strong>the</strong> prison and <strong>the</strong>ir consequences.This in<strong>for</strong>mation has emerged despite <strong>the</strong> extreme measures taken by <strong>the</strong> Chinese authorities to prevent news about <strong>the</strong>situation inside Drapchi reaching <strong>the</strong> outside world. The measures taken within Drapchi to isolate prisoners following <strong>the</strong>May 1998 prison protests were not only punitive; <strong>the</strong>y were also intended to obstruct <strong>the</strong> flow of in<strong>for</strong>mation. Prisoners weresequestered within <strong>the</strong>ir cells <strong>for</strong> more than a year and were not allowed visitors <strong>for</strong> many months following <strong>the</strong> protests, whilesurveillance measures within cells ensured that communication between cell-mates was minimal. It is an indication of <strong>the</strong>official determination to block all avenues of communication that details of <strong>the</strong> May 1998 prison protests and <strong>the</strong>irconsequences are still emerging from <strong>Tibet</strong> more than two years after <strong>the</strong>y occurred.The consequences of <strong>the</strong> acts of individual and collective resistance documented in this <strong>report</strong> demonstrate an officialpropensity to apply extraordinarily harsh levels of abuse on a recurrent basis. This pattern has affected nearly every politicalprisoner held in Unit 3. The application of extreme abuse and sentence extensions in <strong>the</strong> post-1987 period in Drapchi emergeas methods both to punish an individual offender, and to create a deterrent <strong>for</strong> a wider constituency, both inside and outside<strong>the</strong> prison.Severe instances of maltreatment are not carried out by unruly personnel ignoring <strong>the</strong>ir training or <strong>the</strong> professional leadershipof <strong>the</strong>ir supervisors. Pema Butri, <strong>the</strong> chief official [<strong>Tibet</strong>: tutrang; Ch: duizhang] in charge of Unit 3, has emerged as a leaderof sessions of maltreatment, as a participant in <strong>the</strong>m and as an example to her subordinates. Police and security personnel,who are trained in <strong>the</strong> delivery of martial-style kicks and punches to a body's most vulnerable zones, frequently single out <strong>the</strong>heads and kidney areas of prisoners <strong>for</strong> particular attack during beatings. Electric batons are utilised not only to controlprisoners, but to torture those under restraint. Sense organs, such as tongue and ears, body cavities and sexual areas,especially on females, have been routine points of application <strong>for</strong> electric shocks.Beatings have often been administered in order to increase <strong>the</strong> likelihood of serious injury or permanent disability. Sometimesphysical beatings are carried out in full view of o<strong>the</strong>r prisoners, serving as punishment to o<strong>the</strong>rs as well as <strong>the</strong> offender. Asone of <strong>the</strong> nuns held in Drapchi from 1994 until <strong>the</strong> end of 1998 told TIN:“If <strong>the</strong>y came to beat one of your friends, it felt worse than if <strong>the</strong>y beat you. There wasn't a single day without suchan incident. If one of us suffered, <strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs would shout, and in this way trouble would arise.” 11
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Unit 3 and the Drapchi protests of
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Unit 3 and the Drapchi protests of
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Unit 3 and the Drapchi protests of
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Unit 3 and the Drapchi protests of
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Conclusion4. ConclusionThe women no
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Appendices5. AppendicesPrisoner lis
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Appendices500Tibetan political pris
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List 2: Drapchi Prison: Unit 3 nuns
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TIN# status code name lay name det.
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List 4: Female political prisoners
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List 8c: Male Tibetan political pri
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List 10: Female political prisoners
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4 495-0442 REL Ngawang Tenzin Yangd
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95-0074 REL Tsultrim Choedron Tseri
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EndnotesPrefecture, to the west of
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Endnotes40. TIN Doc 399 names the d
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Endnotes75. TIN Doc 39976. TIN Doc
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EndnotesNgawang Sungrab was taken t
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Images6. ImagesA. Nuns and nunnerie
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ImagesExtended sentences, currently
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ImagesImage 13: Chubsang Nunnery, o
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ImagesImage 15: Gyabdrag Nunnery, i
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ImagesImage 16b: Mechungri Nunnery,
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ImagesB. Drapchi PrisonImage 20: Dr
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ImagesImage 21: Drapchi Prison, lat
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