This week China executed Tibetan activist Lobsang Dhondup, sparking strong condemnation from the international community and civil society groups. Lobsang was convicted in a brief “trial” in December, and sentenced to death for his alleged involvement in a series of bomb attacks in Sichuan province last year. He had no legal representation, and did not appeal the conviction, despite reports that there was scant evidence arrayed against him and Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, a Buddhist leader who was also sentenced to death in the case. Amnesty International is one of many rights groups that have raised serious concerns over the fairness of the trial, and it recently asked Chinese authorities to conduct a public investigation of the trial proceedings.
Lobsang Dhondup and Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, a Tibetan monk and supporter of many charitable works in his home region, were both arrested on April 7, 2002 following a bombing incident in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. Both were charged with possession of weapons and ammunition and with provoking separatism and causing explosions in the city. They were jailed for several months and authorities refused to allow a lawyer to present their case, claiming that the case involved “state secrets”. They were convicted in a secret trial. Rinpoche’s death sentence has since been suspended for two years; such action usually means the sentence will be commuted to life imprisonment.
Since December, China has arrested ten other Tibetans in connection with the bombings. Spokespersons for the U.S. State Department have expressed to Chinese officials their dismay over Lobsang’s execution, and have objected to the unjust trial of Lobsang and the Rinpoche. U.S. officials have said they are closely monitoring the status of the other ten Tibetans detained in connection with the case.
The secrecy surrounding Lobsang’s execution makes it difficult to pressure the Chinese government further on the matter. China’s mistreatment of its indigenous groups and ethnic minorities is a matter of record, and its policies have been condemned by other nations on a number of past occasions. In 1949 China invaded western Sichuan province, originally known as Cham, a part of Tibet, and in 1951 China’s People’s Liberation Army occupied the rest of Tibet. The Tibetan resistance movement started at the time of invasion, and continues today around the world. It is estimated that over 1.2 million Tibetans have died as a result of Chinese occupation. Accounts of massacres, exterminations of villages, bombardments of monasteries, extrajudicial executions, and other atrocities and acts of repression are well documented. The tragic execution of Lobsang Dhondup has added yet another name to an already too-long list of victims of China’s abusive policies.
