EFE: 23 MAY2016
The Chinese government's repression in Tibetan areas has spread from cities to rural areas and most of the victims of this persecution are no longer monks., but singers, writers or citizens linked to the defense of the environment, according to a Human Rights Watch report (HRW).
The organization publishes a unique document today, given the difficulties or impossibility of access for journalists, researchers and even tourists without government authorization to the areas he talks about, such as the Tibet region and the Tibetan areas of the Chinese provinces of Sichuan, Qinghai y Gansu.
According to HRW, The Executive has imposed unprecedented surveillance and control in rural areas and small towns, which has led to a spiral of arrests and protests never seen before in these enclaves, where almost the 80 percent of Tibetans.
Based on data from the Executive, of organizations in exile and the foreign press, HRW recoge en el informe "Implacable: Detention and persecution of Tibetans in China's campaign to maintain stability" 479 cases of detainees in these four areas of the country between 2013 and 2015, of which 153 they ended up sentenced to jail, with an average sentence of 5,7 years of prison.
Fueron arrestados por actividades que hasta hace poco no eran consideradas "sensibles" for the regime or were considered minor offenses.
"Simplemente tener una imagen o un texto considerado sensible (by the regime) en el móvil o el ordenador podía llevar a una dura sentencia de cárcel", highlights the document, which points out that the monks represented only the 39 percent of documented arrests.
In this context, el arresto de líderes locales y el apoyo de sus comunidades a través de protestas se ha convertido en un "nuevo fenómeno", highlights the organization, which also shows its concern about abuses in police custody and highlights that 14 People died when they were in the care of the authorities or just after being released.
One of the most dramatic cases that occurred in 2015 It was that of the monk Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, highly respected among Tibetans, and who died in prison in unknown circumstances.
A hundred Tibetans led protests for the authorities to return his body to the family, but they cremated his body in a secret prison, as organizations in exile reported at the time.
His relatives have since been monitored by the authorities., According to sources close to the case, sources close to the case told Efe..
The monk's sister, temporarily detained last year, She was contacted today by Efe but hung up the phone when she heard that it was a media.
HRW also documents situations of police violence against protesters or people in peaceful acts., such as the case of several Tibetans who organized a picnic to celebrate the Dalai Lama's birthday in the province of Sichuan and who were attacked with gunfire by the security forces in 2013.
The social unrest and arrests in the Tibetan areas coincide with the official campaign launched in 2011 to maintain social stability in these ethnic powder kegs, by which Beijing moved around 21.000 officials to towns and monasteries in Tibet or to some 10.000 police to Qinghai, inter alia.
A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hua Chunying, today refused to comment on the report at a press conference, while urging journalists to ask HRW members how many times they have been to China or Tibet, despite the veto imposed by Beijing on researchers from this type of NGO.
"¿They really know what is happening in China or Tibet? People in Tibet live happily. Esperamos que puedan ver el desarrollo de China sin prejuicios", pointed out.
Jia Xiudong, researcher at the Chinese Institute of International Studies in Beijing, ahondaba un poco más en el tema al ser preguntado por Efe y calificó el informe de "irreal".
In his opinion, el aumento de la presencia de fuerzas de seguridad en estas áreas "no se debe malinterpretar". "Los problemas entre China y el Tíbet se exageran", concluded.
