Arrested Tibetans are threatened with torture and death

The Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) fears that the approximately 1,000 Tibetans who have been arrested are threatened with torture and inhuman treatment. "We must take it that the Chinese interrogators intend to use all means to bank up their theory of a "conspiracy of the Dalai Lama clique” with so-called "proofs”, said the GfbV Asia expert, Ulrich Delius on Wednesday. Torture has been used for decades in China’s prisons and police-stations in order to extort confessions and discover possible accomplices.

Since the signing of the Anti-Torture Convention by the People’s Republic on 12th December 1986 89 Tibetans have died as a result of torture suffered in custody either during the period of custody or immediately after their release. Political prisoners who have been severely injured by mishandling or torture are regularly released shortly before death in order to keep low the number of deaths in custody. Before the outbreak of the unrest in Tibet 119 Tibetan political prisoners were known by name.

China has now disregarded rights of persons in custody which are already internationally accepted because arrested persons have been shown publicly on the streets of Lhasa, criticised Delius. As a deterrent 40 arrested Tibetans were slowly driven through the city centre of Lhasa last Monday on four open army lorries.

"It is extremely troubling to hear Peking’s call to a battle for life or death in Tibet”, said Delius. These martial slogans are by no means a good omen for human rights in Tibet and China.