Ngawang Sangdrol's case history
Born in 1977 in Lhasa, Ngawang Sangdrol, layname Rigchog, joined Garu Nunnery at a very young age.
In 1987, 10-year-old Sangdrol participated in a peaceful pro-independence demonstration and was subsequently detained for 15 days. On 28 August 1990, she was detained for nine months for participating in another demonstration. A year later, she was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in Drapchi Prison for once again staging a demonstration.
In 1993, Sangdrol and 13 other nuns in Drapchi Prison made a tape-recording of the brutal treatment suffered and of their unfaltering commitment to Tibetan independence. The tape was smuggled out and circulated throughout Tibet. Sangdrol was found guilty of "spreading counter-revolutionary propaganda" and had her sentence extended by an additional six years.
On 31 July 1996, Sangdrol received an additional eight years on her prison term, raising her total sentence to 17 years on alleged charges of failing to clean her room. Actually, she refused to rise to her feet when a communist party delegation visited her cell. Her physical condition deteriorated due to torture, with her right leg seriously injured.
During the Drapchi prison protest in May 1998, all prisoners were beaten with particular ferocity meted out to Sangdrol. She was severely beaten and tortured. Lhasa Intermediate People's Court extended Sangdrol's sentence. Despite conflicting reports about the length of this sentence extension, TCHRD maintains by the fact that Sangdrol received four years sentence extension bringing her total sentence to 21 years.
Inserito da 10zin9duck il 10 mar '09 19.11.
Ngawang Sangdrol: free Tibet activist
