download the report - International Campaign for Tibet

Female political prisoners at Drapchi: the buildup of Unit 3“On the morning of 5 October 1987 the defendant Jigme Zangpo shouted reactionary slogans, timing his act whenthe prisoners were gathering to be fed. Running from behind the rows of prisoners, he read out the followingreactionary slogans from a poster he was holding out: ‘Tibetan Independence’; ‘The Chinese Communist Party isSuppressing Tibet’; ‘The Communist Chinese Occupation Army Should Go Back’.” 13The verdict statement noted that he had not yet completed his term, but found that he had again “violated and opposed thesocialist democratic system, the dictatorship of the proletariat, and its territorial integrity in an attempt to split themotherland”. The second extension was delivered more promptly, only four months after the protest compared to the 14month delay that had occurred before his first sentence extension was imposed. On 6 December 1991, while a Swissdelegation, including the ambassador to China, was visiting Drapchi, Jigme Zangpo shouted political slogans from within14his cell. The visitors heard the shouting. Afterwards Jigme Zangpo was beaten and placed in solitary confinement. Thecourt's verdict reveals official exasperation as well as determination to increase punishment until opposition was checked:“The court, therefore, finds that the defendant Jigme Zangpo has always had the objective to follow the reactionarypath by steadfastly spreading and inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda. By raising reactionary slogans suchas, ‘Tibetan independence’ and ‘Communist Chinese occupation forces quit Tibet’, the defendant has been foundto be a dangerous counter-revolutionary person.” 15The ruling provides an insight into the more serious threat to officialdom implied by such seemingly minor or obscurechallenges to authority:“Moreover, he has been found guilty of serious crime by his continued opposition to the socialist democratic system;[by his opposition to] the dictatorship of the proletariat; [by having ] considered socialism as an enemy; and [byhaving] attempted to eliminate the unity of the nationalities and the motherland.” 16The severity of Jigme Zangpo’s punishment for individual expressions which would have been considered innocuous by lessapprehensive administrations, underscores the importance the Chinese authorities place on silencing dissent if ideologicalreform cannot actually be achieved. Jigme Zangpo has now accrued a 28 year sentence, the last portion of which was17imposed when he was age 66, setting a precedent understood by other prisoners.Although Jigme Zangpo’s 1988 sentence extension for his October 1987 protest was the first known to have been imposedat Drapchi for an internal political protest in the current period of dissent and unrest, six more political prisoners who hadearned sentence extensions would join the ranks at Drapchi on 28 September 1991. On 20 May 1991, three days before theth 1840 anniversary of the signing of the “17 Point Agreement” , at a time when Lhasa was exceptionally tense and had been19placed under a security alert, a group of at least 12 male political prisoners at Sitru Prison in northeast Lhasa handed prisonofficials a petition arguing that the 17 Point Agreement, a document of key historical significance used by the Chineseauthorities to legitimise their claim over Tibet, had been forcibly imposed on Tibet and was invalid. All the protestors, whowere serving three year administrative sentences at the time of their protest, were beaten and held in solitary confinement forthree weeks. Ten are known to have received sentence extensions ranging from one to six years. Four men who receivedextensions of one year or one and a half years were later transferred to Trisam to complete their terms. The other six whoreceived four to six year extensions were sent to Drapchi. All are believed to have been released after sentence expiry. 20[see Image 33: Sitru PSB Detention Centre]9