Published:
Climate of Fear as Olympic Torch Arrives in Lhasa
By International Campaign for Tibet
As the Olympic torch relay approaches Lhasa, the Tibetan plateau remains sealed off, and thousands of Tibetans are unaccounted for following the crackdown since March 10. There is an intense climate of fear across Tibet. Severe restrictions have been put into place in Lhasa over the past two weeks, and there is new evidence of the torture of many of those detained.
Tibetans who attempt to send information outside the country are in danger of arrest and imprisonment following the most significant uprising against Chinese rule in more than half a century, which began with protests by monks in Lhasa and Qinghai on March 10, the 49th anniversary of Tibetan National Uprising Day. Mobile phones have been seized and internet connections blocked.
The authorities have emphasized the importance of "patriotic education" in the buildup to Olympics, saying that it is essential to ensure "security and stability" during the progress of the "sacred Olympic flame". People's Armed Police troops have been sent to monasteries in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), and part of their brief is to give monks "relevant information" about the Olympics.
Despite China's attempts to impose an information blackout, this report includes new information and eyewitness testimony on the situation inside Tibet and the intensification of security prior to the Olympic torch events tomorrow in Lhasa. There are fears that the crackdown in Tibet will worsen still further following the Olympics, when there is even less international scrutiny on the situation inside.
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Mary Beth Markey, Vice President of Advocacy of the International Campaign for Tibet, said: "As we begin to uncover more facts about the situation in Tibet - the intensity of the crackdown, the extent of patriotic education and the use of torture - we see how determined the Chinese government authorities are to suppress the true sentiments of the Tibetan people and press on with their Olympic show in Lhasa. We are most concerned about the consequences for the detained and disappeared, and call for urgent international scrutiny not only now, but also post-Olympics, when the dangers to Tibetans will arguably increase."
ICT calls upon the Chinese government to:
End the violent crackdown in Tibet;
Provide access to all Tibetan areas for independent observers as a matter of urgency;
Honor the Chinese Constitution's commitment to the freedoms of speech and association, and not treat peaceful protest as a crime. Diplomats and other international observers should be allowed access to the trials of Tibetans charged with protest-related crimes;
Grant due process to all others who have been taken into custody, and to offer access to independent counsel and to relatives;
Withdraw security forces from monasteries, and end the "patriotic education" campaign, which has created a cycle of new dissent and only risks provoking further protests.
ICT has also called upon the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to use its authority and influence to ensure access without restrictions to media in the buildup to the arrival of the Olympic torch in Lhasa. In a June 18 letter to Mr Christophe De Kepper, Chief of Staff of the IOC, ICT's President John Ackerly said: "Can we assume that the IOC is comfortable with taking the torch through an area that is under de facto martial law and closed to the outside world? ... The IOC has a responsibility to press the Chinese government to allow access to foreign media during any leg of the torch relay, or any other Olympic event, without burdensome restrictions. ... The IOC's apparent failure to stand up for Olympic values ... could place the IOC as a seemingly willing accomplice to the Chinese government's tactics surrounding the torch relay in Tibet. It also cast a shadow over this IOC, because it reinforces the perception that this torch belongs to the Chinese government and not to the world."
This ICT report, published on the eve of the arrival of the Olympic torch to Lhasa includes the following:
Preliminary analysis of incidents of dissent in Tibet since March;
New images of a monastery surrounded by troops in eastern Tibet;
Previously unpublished pictures of the main prison where political prisoners are held in Qushui (Tibetan: Chushur) in Lhasa, where Tibetan prisoners have suffered increasingly severe treatment since the protests began;
Details of an intensified climate of fear and security buildup prior to the torch's arrival in Tibet, combined with stepped up censorship and efforts by the authorities to present the situation as 'normal';
How the new focus on "patriotic education" emphasizes the importance of upholding the Party line on the Olympics;
Reports of torture in detention of Tibetans and details of Tibetans now in prison following the protests.
judythpiazza@newsblaze.com
Tags: Climate of Fear, Olympic Torch Arrives in Lhasa,International Campaign for Tibet,Olympic Torch
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