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In May 1998 Chinese prison authorities in the bleak Tibetan prison
of Drapchi, just north of Lhasa, were enraged because a group of
Buddhist nun prisoners were refusing to sing Socialism is Good and
other patriotic songs as the Chinese flag was raised and instead
were shouting pro-independence slogans.
The beatings and torture that followed is typical of the
Chinese regime in its treatment of the gentle Tibetan people.
The monitoring group, the Tibet Information Network, pieced
together details of the torture from a survivor of the prison.
One of the nuns told TIN: "They
beat us so savagely that there was blood everywhere, on the walls
and on the floor. It looked like an abattoir. They beat us with
their belts until their belts broke. Then they used electric
batons. Some of us had torn ears, others had wounds in their
heads."
A week of interrogations and beating followed. Finally the nuns
were ordered into an exercise yard to stand still in the summer
sun for four days.
On the fifth day, five young nuns, driven to despair and unable
to endure more torture hanged themselves or suffocated themselves
by swallowing their scarves.
Communist front group, the shadowy socialist youth organisation
Resistance is always to the fore in organising an
anti-Bush rally. but is nowhere to be seen when pro-Tibet rallies
take place.
Members of Resistance might spare a thought for the
nuns each time they sing Socialism is Good.
Update June 2006
A Tibetan nun, Phuntsog Nyidrol, recently released by
Chinese authorities after serving 15 years in jail has flown
into exile in the US. She was greeted at an emotional
reunion by former cellmate Ngawang Sangdrol, who lives in the US.
Ms Phuntsog was among a group of nuns arrested in 1989
after taking part in a peaceful protest against
Chinese rule.
She was sentenced to eight years jail and received nine
more years after she and other nuns secretly recorded songs
about life in prison.
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