A Tibetan Teenager and Several Others Arrested, Fear of Torture

"Losang Jamyang, S/O Dronkar was arrested between 12 and 1 am on the night of March 22. He is from upper Tawa in Ngaba county, eastern Tibet. The armed police and soldiers who came to arrest him broke down the street door of his house, and two friends who were with him, Wangchuk and Sonam, were also detaine,' Losang Yeshe and Kanyag Tsering from exile Kirti monastery based in Dharamshala told The Tibet Post International.

Many other residents of the two Dewa (pastoral communities) of upper Tawa were also arrested on the nights of March 21 and March 22, but we have not been able to establish the details so far. All of them were arrested between midnight and 2 am on those nights, and the security personnel broke down their doors and treated the detainees with a severe degree of contempt and malice.

Prior to this, on March 20, unable to gather or celebrate in public, it is reported that the people of Amdo Ngaba had cleaned their houses and arranged shrine offerings of water bowls and butter lamps, making heartfelt prayers for the election of a new prime minister and parliament (in exile) of real benefit to the nation. That night around 3 am a few firecrackers were set off in Ngaba county. Security forces made some arrests, but the details of this are not known, and since then arrests have been continuing and the situation has worsened day by day.

Meanwhile the so-called Patriotic Religion reeducation campaign has been going on at Kirti monastery in Tibet. On March 23, monks were issued with copies of three handbooks on the constitution of the PRC, on the law concerning (respect for) the PRC flag and PRC regulations on the mediation of public disputes, and told to improve their awareness of the law and regulations.