1. Prisoners of Conscience, Peaceful Demonstrations and Defiance Against Chinese Occupation
During 1994-1995 the Chinese authorities continued to severely punish and arbitrarily arrest any Tibetan for engaging in peaceful protest or for belonging to any clandestine organisation that threatened to "Split the Motherland."
Amnesty International listed 628 Tibetan prisoners detained in Chinese prisons in Tibet in 1994. Nineteen independence demonstrations were reported to have taken place in 1994, all resulting in arbitrary arrests and detentions. In 1995 the Human Rights Desk recorded 39 known Tibetan demonstrations and over 230 known arbitrary arrests. The number of known arbitrary arrests and demonstrations reported in 1995 therefore increased drastically compared to the previous year. In the first three months of 1995 over 120 Tibetans were known to have been arbitrarily arrested, with 18 demonstrations being reported. The highest recorded number of demonstrations recorded since 1989 occurred in February, one month before a proposed Peace March from India to Lhasa organised by Tibetan non-government organisations in exile (the march was cancelled). The main complaints of the demonstrators were; Chinese occupation of Tibet, Chinese immigration into Tibet and the Chinese interference in the Panchen Lama selection process.
Again it must be stressed that due to the difficulties in receiving reports from Tibet on arbitrary arrests and detentions, these statistics do not represent the true numbers of arrests and demonstrations in Tibet from 1994-1995.
In 1994 and 1995, poster campaigns and subsequent arbitrary arrests were reported in the regions of Yamure (Central Tibet), Nguira and Labrang (Amdo) and Chamdo (Kham). The posters called for Tibet's independence and for an end to Chinese occupation as well as leading to the arbitrary arrest of political activists in the area. The appearance of pro-independence posters in Labrang and Nguira resulted in the Chinese police launching an official campaign in 1995 to control the "wave of splittism" titled "Striking a powerful blow campaign". This campaign led to at least five reported arrests in the course of which one Tibetan is said to have received a seven year prison sentence and one monk has been partially paralysed and another has disappeared. Then on January 28, 1995, eight Tibetans including three monks were arrested at Katsel, Meldrogongkar county, Central Tibet, after pro-independence posters appeared and so-called "dissident" books were found in their rooms.
2. The Right to Receive and Impart Information Denied
Restrictions on receiving and imparting information inside Tibet tightened as the Chinese authorities sought desperately to prevent the outside world from gathering information on the serious human rights violations in Tibet. In November 1994 the Chinese authorities mounted a tight security operation to prevent non-official communication with the Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance when he visited Tibet. However, 25 reports and letters prepared before and after his visit were later carried from Tibet and received by the Rapporteur in Geneva. Tibetans inside Tibet, during 1994 and 1995, were also prevented from receiving information or materials that may strengthen their cause by the arrest of foreigners who were passing information to Tibetans regarding His Holiness the Dalai Lama. In 1995 there were reports of foreign tourists being strip-searched on their way to Nepal: they were suspected of carrying letters from Tibetans to their friends and families in India. Two French women and one American woman reported such violations over the year.
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