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Executions Joint Statement

JOINT STATEMENT BY THE GLOBAL TIBET MOVEMENT CONDEMNING THE EXECUTIONS OF TIBETANS IN TIBET
 

[22 October 2009] The 166 member organisations of the International Tibet Support Network condemn the government of China for the executions of three Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen, Loyak, and Penkyi in Lhasa on 20 October. A fourth unidentified Tibetan was also reportedly executed on the same day.

China's decision to execute these Tibetans is an affront to international judicial standards. These executions are clearly politically motivated (see Notes 1 & 2), and concerns that those convicted did not have a fair trial are well-founded. Tuesday’s executions show that China will use all methods at its disposal to intimidate Tibetans and crush all perceived opposition to its occupation of Tibet. 
 
Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak were sentenced to death on 8 April 2009. They had been charged with "starting fatal fires" in which, according to Xinhua, seven Chinese people died in Lhasa on 14 March 2008, when four days of peaceful protests by Tibetan monks in Lhasa escalated into city-wide unrest. A Xinhua statement on 8 April said they "have to be executed to assuage the people's anger." Judicial procedure calls for death sentence convictions to be reviewed by the Supreme People's Court before sentences are carried out, but no information is available if such reviews occurred in these cases.

The identity of the other Tibetans executed - Penkyi, and reportedly a fourth person - remains unclear. Three Tibetans received suspended death sentences on arson charges in April 2009. Gangtsu and Tenzin Phuntsog were given death sentences suspended for two years on the same day Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak were sentenced. In addition, a life sentence was handed to Dawa Sangpo. On 21 April, Xinhua reported that three Tibetan women had been sentenced for charges of arson which led to the deaths of six people. Penkyi from Sakya received a death sentence suspended for two years, another Penkyi from Nyemo was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Chime Lhamo from Namling was sentenced to 10 years.

 
In response to the executions, representatives of the Tibet movement made the following statements:
 
Lhadon Tethong, Executive Director of Students for a Free Tibet said; "These executions, the first known executions of Tibetans since 2003, are a travesty of justice and signal an alarming escalation in the Chinese government's violent campaign to punish, intimidate, and silence Tibetans who dare to speak out against Chinese rule. Tibetans and their supporters worldwide will take to the streets in the coming days to condemn these executions and to demand immediate action on the part of our governments. We also call on U.S. President Obama to condemn these executions and to take bold and concrete action to help end China's occupation of Tibet when he makes his first presidential visit to China next month."
 
Paul Bourke from Australia Tibet Council said; "These brutal executions are more about China reinforcing political control in Tibet than about justice. The executions are meant to send a strong warning to Tibetans – any public display of dissatisfaction with China’s rule in Tibet will be dealt with in the harshest possible manner. Given this distressing news, it is all the more imperative that Prime Minister Rudd meet with the Dalai Lama in December to discuss constructive action the Australian government can take to help bring about a fair and just resolution for the Tibetan people."
 
Dhardon Sharling of Tibetan Women's Association said; "The members of the International Tibet Support Network sincerely hope that governments around the world will join in our condemnation of Tuesday's executions. The Tibet issue, and the associated human rights abuses and brutal crackdown inflicted by the Chinese Government will not go away unless there is a concrete and viable political resolution to the 60-year occupation of Tibet, yet the Chinese authorities have disdainfully rejected His Holiness' initiatives to bring about a mutually beneficial solution to both China and Tibet. We call on the international community to urge the Chinese leadership, in the strongest possible terms, to negotiate a peaceful solution to this long-standing injustice."
 
Stephanie Brigden of Free Tibet added; "Tuesday's executions are a particular outrage. Despite Chinese law providing that these cases should have been trialled in open court – where independent observers could have attended - these four Tibetans have been prosecuted behind closed doors. It is impossible to have any confidence that even the most basic legal safeguards were met. In December last year the UN confirmed that the use of confessions, obtained through torture to secure convictions is routine and widespread in China – even the Chinese Government officials have acknowledged that “ nearly every wrongful verdict in recent years relates to illegal interrogation.”
 
The member organisations of the International Tibet Support Network, a global coalition of Tibet campaign groups, demand that China:

* Not exacerbate this outrage by executing any more Tibetans, and immediately commute all remaining death sentences. 
 
* Publish the names and whereabouts of the more than 1,200 Tibetans missing since the protests of March and April 2008. 

* Agree to the demand made in November 2008 by the UN Committee Against Torture for a "thorough and independent enquiry into the reported excessive use of force, including against peaceful demonstrators". 
 
* Reverse its rejection of the Dalai Lama's initiatives and negotiate a peaceful resolution to the 60 year occupation of Tibet. 
 
The 166 members of the International Tibet Support Network call on all governments to condemn these executions and to secure from China guarantees that all trials of Tibetans be held in open court, defendants have access to independent legal representation, legal safeguards are adhered to, and consular staff and foreign journalists are permitted to attend such court proceedings, where requested. 
 
The International Tibet Support Network

The 166 members of the International Tibet Support Network are:
 
North America:
Association Cognizance Tibet, North Carolina
Bay Area Friends of Tibet
Boston Tibet Network
Canada Tibet Committee
China Tibet Initiative
Colorado Friends of Tibet
Committee of 100 for Tibet
Dhokam Chushi Gangdruk
International Campaign for Tibet
International Tibet Independence Movement
Los Angeles Friends of Tibet
Monadnock Friends of Tibet
Northwest Tibetan Cultural Association
Rangzen Alliance
San Diego Friends of Tibet
Santa Barbara Friends of Tibet
Seattle Friends of Tibet
Sierra Friends of Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet – Canada
The Tibetan Alliance of Chicago
The World Tibet Day Foundation
Tibet Committee of Fairbanks
Tibet Justice Center
Tibetan Association of Ithaca
Tibetan Association of Northern California
Tibetan Association of Santa Fe
Tibetan Association of South California
Tibetan Cultural Association - Quebec
TIBETmichigan
Toronto Tibet Youth Congress
U.S. Tibet Committee
Western Colorado Friends of Tibet
Central & South America:
Amigos del Tibet, El Salvador
Asociacion Cultural Peruano Tibetana
Casa Tibet Mexico
Grupo De Apoyo a Tibet Chile
Grupo Pro-Cultura Tibetana, Chile
Centro De Cultura Tibetana
Le Club Francais
Pensando En Tibet - Mexico
Tibet Group-Panama
Tíbet Patria Libre, Uruguay
Asia:
Bharrat Tibbat Sahyog Manch, India
Circle of Friends (Philippines)
Core Group for Tibetan Cause, India
Foundation for Universal Responsibility of H. H. the Dalai Lama
Friedrich-Naumann Foundation
Gannasamannay
Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet
Himalayan Committee for Action on Tibet
India Tibet Friendship Society
Lung-ta
Mahatma Gandhi Tibet Freedom Movement
National Campaign for Tibetan Support, India
National Democratic Party of Tibet
Raise Tibetan Flag Campaign
Roof of the World Foundation, Indonesia
SFT-India
Taiwan Friends of Tibet
Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation
The Youth Liberation Front of Tibet, Mongolia and Turkestan
Tibet Lives, India
Tibet Solidarity Forum, Bangladesh
Tibet Support Group Kiku, Japan
Tibet Support Network Japan
Tibetan Parliamentary and Policy Research Centre
Tibetan Women's Association (Central)
Tibetan Youth Congress
SFT Japan
Students for a Free Tibet - Bangladesh
Australasia:
Australia Tibet Council
Friends of Tibet New Zealand
Students for a Free Tibet New Zealand
Tibetan Community of Australia (Victoria)
Tibet Action Group of Western Australia 
Africa & the Middle East:
Friends of Tibet - Isamailia (Egypt)
Israeli Friends of the Tibetan People
South African Friends of Tibet
Tibet Support Group Kenya
Western Europe:
Aide aux Refugies Tibetains
Association Dorje
Association Drôme Ardèche-Tibet
Association of Tibetans in Germany
Association Rencontres Tibetaines - C.S.P.T. Midi-Pyrenees
Associazione Italia-Tibet
Austrian Committee for Tibet
Briancon05 Urgence Tibet
Caisse d'Aide aux Prisonniers Tibetains
Casa del Tibet - Spain
Comite de Apoyo al Tibet (Madrid)
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain - Bretagne
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain (Les Lilas)
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain (Switzerland)
Comite de Soutien au Peuple Tibetain de l'Herault
Eco-Tibet France
EcoTibet Ireland
France-Tibet
Free Tibet Campaign
Games of Beijing, Switzerland
Swiss Tibetan Friendship Association
Groupe Non-Violent Louis Lecoin, France
Grupo de Apoio ao Tibete, Portugal
International Campaign for Tibet Deutschland
International Campaign for Tibet Europe
International Society of Human Rights, Munich Chapter
ISCOS-CISL 
Jamtse Thundel Association
La Porte du Tibet, Geneva
Les Amis du Tibet - Belgium
Les Amis du Tibet Luxembourg
Lions Des Neiges
Lions Des Neiges Mont Blance, France
Maison des Himalayas
Maison du Tibet - Tibet Info 
Nos Amis de l'Himalaya
Nice Tibet, France
Objectif Tibet
Passeport Tibetain
Reseau International des Femmes pour le Tibet
Save Tibet, Austria
Society for Threatened Peoples International (Associate Member)
Solidarite Tibet
Students for a Free Tibet - France
Students for a Free Tibet - UK
Tibet 59 / 62 
Tibet Democratie
Tibet Initiative Deutschland
Tibet Libertes, France 
Tibet Society, U.K.
Tibet Support Group - Ireland
Tibet Support Group - Netherlands
Tibet Unterstutzung Liechtenstein
Tibetan Community Austria
Tibetan Community in Britain
Tibetan Community in Ireland
Tibetan Youth Association in Europe
Tibetan Youth UK
Tibetisches Zentrum Hamburg
TSG Free Tibet And You
Tsowa-Maintenir la Vie, France 
Urgence Tibet
Vrienden Van Tibet
Northern Europe:
Association of Free Tibet 
Friends of Tibet in Finland
Swedish Tibet Committee
The Norwegian Tibet Committee
Tibet Support Committee Denmark -
Tibetan Community in Denmark 
Tibetan Community Sweden
Central & Eastern Europe:
TSG - Slovenia 
Friends of Tibet Society St. Petersburg, Russia
Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights - Tibet Desk 
Lithuanian Tibet Culture Foundation
Polish Movement for a Free Tibet
Society for Croatia-Tibet Friendship
Students for a Free Tibet, Poland
The Foundation for Civil Society, Russia 
Tibet cesky (Tibet in Czech)
Tibet Support Association - Hungary
Tibet Support Group - Krasnodar Region, Russia
Tibet Support Group - Romania
Tibet Support Group - Sochi Region, Russia
Tibetan Programme of The Other Space Foundation
Union Latvija Tibetai (Latvia for Tibet )
Zida Cels, Latvia