CUTTING OFF THE SERPENT===S HEAD: Tightening Control in Tibet, 1994-1995 Tibet Information Network Human Rights Watch/Asia ADVANCE READING COPY EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE MARCH 26, 1996 Human Rights Watch New York $$$ Washington $$$ Los Angeles $$$ London $$$ Brussels ii Copyright 8 March 1996 by Tibet Information Network and Human Rights Watch. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. ISBN 1-56432-166-5 TIBET INFORMATION NETWORK The Tibet Information Network (TIN) is an independent news and research service that collects and distributes information about what is happening in Tibet. TIN monitors social, economic, political, environmental and human rights conditions in Tibet, and then publishes the information in an easily accessible form. It collects its information by using sources inside and outside Tibet, by conducting projects amongst refugees, and by monitoring established Chinese and international sources. TIN aims to present information that is accurate, reliable, and free from bias. Its material is available to subscribers who, in return for an annual fee, receive news updates and background briefing papers, as well as access to specialist briefings, translations of documents, and research services. The service is used by individuals and institutions, including journalists, governments, academics, China-watchers, and human rights organizations. TIN was started in 1987 and is based in London. It has no political affiliations or objectives and endeavors to provide a reliable and dispassionate news service for an area of increasing significance. TIN services include: - News Updates providing detailed coverage of news events - Background Briefing Papers on key social and political issues - Full texts of key interviews and original documents - Translations of articles from Tibetan newspapers - Briefings for delegations and analysts A selection of TIN information is translated into Tibetan, Japanese, German, French and Danish. TIN's office in the US distributes information to subscribers in North America. Addresses for the Tibet Information Network: TIN UK: 7 Beck Road, London E8 4RE, UK Tel: (44) 181-533-5458 fax: (44)-(0)181 985 4751 E-mail: [email protected] TIN USA: PO Box 2270, Jackson, WY 83001, USA Tel/fax: (307) 733-4670 E-mail: [email protected] iii HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Human Rights Watch conducts regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries around the world. It addresses the human rights practices of governments of all political stripes, of all geopolitical alignments, and of all ethnic and religious persuasions. In internal wars it documents violations by both governments and rebel groups. Human Rights Watch defends freedom of thought and expression, due process and equal protection of the law; it documents and denounces murders, disappearances, torture, arbitrary imprisonment, exile, censorship and other abuses of internationally recognized human rights. Human Rights Watch began in 1978 with the founding of its Helsinki division. Today, it includes five divisions covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, as well as the signatories of the Helsinki accords. It also includes five collaborative projects on arms transfers, children's rights, free expression, prison conditions, and women's rights. It maintains offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Moscow, Dushanbe, Rio de Janeiro, and Hong Kong. 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Sidney Jones is the executive director; Mike Jendrzejczyk is the Washington director; Robin Munro is the Hong Kong director; Jeannine Guthrie is NGO Liaison; Dinah PoKempner is Counsel; Patricia Gossman and Zunetta Liddell are research associates; Joyce Wan is a Henry R. Luce Fellow; Diana Tai- Feng Cheng and Paul Lall are associates; Mickey Spiegel is a research consultant. Andrew J. Nathan is chair of the advisory committee and Orville Schell is vice chair. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was written by Robert Barnett of the Tibet Information Network based on research conducted by a TIN team who, in order to allow their work to continue, cannot be named. They dedicated many months of intensive work to collecting primary information, interviewing escapees, translating documents, and then keying in, analyzing and cross-checking the data received. One of the team created an exhaustive database of all references to political prisoners, and another carried out and translated over 150 interviews in a project which lasted well over a year. Most of the researchers worked, unpaid, under extremely difficult conditions; in addition the Tibetans involved in this work faced serious risk to themselves and their families. Without their willingness to carry out this research and their commitment to accuracy and balance, especially those involved in monitoring arrests in the field, this report would not have been possible. Mickey Spiegel of Human Rights Watch/Asia wrote the last three sections of Part 2 and Appendix II, and did extensive cross-checking of prisoner lists. The report was edited by Sidney Jones, Mickey Spiegel and Cynthia Brown, and produced with the assistance of Paul Lall, all of Human Rights Watch. A NOTE ON THE TITLE The title is taken from a speech given by Ragti, deputy executive secretary of the Communist Party of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, on September 5, 1994 at the Seventh Plenum of the Sixth Standing Committee Session of the TAR Communist Party: "As the saying goes, to kill a serpent, we must first chop off its head. If we don't do that, we cannot succeed in the struggle against separatism. .... it is not a matter of religious belief nor a matter of the question of autonomy, it is a matter of securing the unity of our country and opposing separatism. It is a matter of antagonistic contradiction with the enemy, and it represents the concentrated form of the class struggle in Tibet at the present time. It is the continuing struggle of the Chinese people against imperialism, the struggle against the invading force of the imperialists ... Any separatist activities and convictions must be continuously crushed, according to the law. We must heighten our vigilance, and watch out for those few who are holding to a reactionary standpoint, and who are launching vengeful counterattacks and harming our cadres at the grassroots level. They must be struck down and punished severely... We have the correct leadership of the Party and the solid and unchangeable support of the People's Army and the Public Security plus the garrison command. Whoever sabotages the solidarity of the nationalities and wants to separate China will be completely opposed by the Tibetan people and people of the whole country, and will definitely be smashed and will become criminals who have committed the most heinous crimes." vi GLOSSARY A-ni (Tibetan) - nun. An quan bu (Chinese) - Ministry of State Security. Tibetan: rgyal-khab dbe-'jags las-khung (gyalkhab denjak lekhung). Barkor (Tibetan bar-skor) - literally the "middle circuit,@ the road or alleyway used for circumambulation around the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, and the main site for korwa (q.v.) in Lhasa. Bodhisattva (Sanskrit) - literally, a person who has the `mind of Enlightenment,= and who is set on becoming a Buddha; usually refers to a form of Buddha or enlightened being, including Manjushri and Chenrezig, and thus the Dalai Lama. Tibetan: byang-chub sems- dpa' (chang chub sempa). Bonpo (Tibetan) - the traditional animist religion of Tibet, originating from before the arrival of Buddhism, and still practiced in many areas. Cardinal Principles - Party term for the fundamental dogmas of the Chinese state: the supremacy of the socialist system, the dictatorship of the proletariat, the leadership of the Party, and the supremacy of Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong thought. Chinese: jiben yuanze. CCP - the Chinese Communist Party, founded in Shanghai in July 1921.