Spiritual_Stories5

3 Tibetan nun's deaths, the story of a struggle

They were young Tibetan nuns who suffered, then died,
at the hands of jail guards. In the land Tibet they
had hoped would be free, theirs is not an uncommon fate.

[Excerpt from Philadelphia Inquirer]

"Ven Sherab Ngawang, Ven Phuntsok Yangkyi and Ven Gyaltsen Kelsang died in the last two years the way no young women should: worn down inside Chinese prisons in Tibet, where they had been beaten with sticks kicked with boots, and shocked with electric cattle prods.

It was a few simple words that doomed them. At a Feb. 3, 1992, rally
to protest the Chinese occupation of their country, Ngawang, 15,
and Yangkyi, 17, chanted slogans: "Independence for Tibet",
"May peace prevail on Earth," and "Long live the Dalai Lama."
The police closed in quickly.

The following year, in June 1993, Kelsang, 22, chanted freedom
slogans at another rally, and also was arrested.

While in prison, each of the three young Tibetan Buddhist
nuns was tortured repeatedly, according to former prisoners
interviewed in India this year.

All three died within a year of each other. Ngawang was 18 when
she died in May 1995; Yangkyi, 19, in June 1994; Kelsang, 24, in
February 1995. Their names were added to the list of 173,221
Tibetans who have died after being tortured in Chinese prisons
in Tibet, between 1949 and 1979, according to the Tibetan
government in exile.

Since Tibet was invaded by China in 1949, China has effectively
outlawed freedom of speech, assembly and religion. Authorities
continue to crack down on Tibetans who question Chinese rule,
relying on imprisonment and torture in an attempt to eradicate
Tibetan religion, culture and nationality.

The Tibetan government in exile, located in India, is the only
organization to keep detailed records of deaths in Tibet at the
hands of the Chinese. It says death by torture and other means
has been a fact of life in Tibet since the Chinese occupation.

According to its records, 1.2 million Tibetans died between 1949
and 1979.