Tibet (China)

Four young Tibetans have been given long jail sentences for trying to circulate information about the grave human rights situation in the Tibetan region, where at least 52 people have set fire to themselves since February 2009.

Tibetan filmmaker Jigme Gyatso, who assisted a documentarian who is currently in prison, has been missing since 20 September and his colleagues fear he may have been detained.

Monks were detained in a raid by soldiers and police in eastern Tibet, in response to the circulation of reports and photos outside Tibet.

Buddhist monk Yonten Gyatso, who has been arbitrarily detained for months, received a seven-year prison sentence for spreading information about Tibet.

Restrictions on news, media and communications in Tibet have been stepped up by Chinese authorities in the lead-up to the 18th Party Congress.

Both text messaging and internet access was disabled for two days in Ganzi prefecture, a Tibetan autonomous region in western Sichuan province.

Police in Gan Lho Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture have posted public notices in which “criminals” who circulate certain views and information are threatened with “torture”.

Lhamo Tso has not spoken to her husband Dhondup Wangchen since 17 March 2008 and hears of him only when his sister visits the Xichuan Prison in Qinghai province, western China, where he is serving six years.

Beijing-based blogger Woeser reported on her website that she has been confined to her residence by Beijing public security officers who are stationed outside her home.

RSF is alarmed at the blackout imposed on the provinces of Sichuan and Qinghai, as well as the autonomous region of Tibet, preventing all media coverage of protest movements.

The WiPC urgently seeks information about the whereabouts of writer Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, who has been held incommunicado at an unknown location since 15 February 2012, his wellbeing and any charges against him.

Foreign journalists have been prevented from covering police clashes with citizens in Sichuan Province and Tibetan-language print shops, blogs and websites have been shut down.

Foreign journalists have reported being followed by unidentified people, being escorted by police back to the airport, being questioned for hours by police, being forced to delete images from their cameras and having their research and writing materials confiscated.

Security forces opened fire on Tibetan protesters on 23 and 24 January, killing at least two people and injuring several dozen more.

Eleven Tibetans have set themselves on fire since March, apparently to protest restrictions on basic freedoms and punitive security measures imposed on a number of monasteries.

According to Human Rights Watch, “Security measures designed to curtail the right to free expression, association, and religious belief in Tibetan monasteries are not legitimate”.