Monk dies in Tibet due to ill-treatment while in jail

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Khenrab Tharchin, a former monk political prisoner in Chinese ruled Tibet has died on Aug 8 while being taken to hospital due to poor health resulting from ill-treatment during his imprisonment. (Photo courtesy: RFA)
Khenrab Tharchin, a former monk political prisoner in Chinese ruled Tibet has died on Aug 8 while being taken to hospital due to poor health resulting from ill-treatment during his imprisonment. (Photo courtesy: RFA)

(TibetanReview.net, Aug11, 2016) – A former monk political prisoner in Chinese ruled Tibet has died on Aug 8 while being taken to hospital due to poor health resulting from ill-treatment during his imprisonment. The monk, Khenrab Tharchin, was about 40 years old.

Khenrab Tharchin was one of several monks at Shelkar Choedhe Monastery in Dingri County of Shigatse (Chinese: Xigaze) prefecture who in May 2008 rejected China’s demand that Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, be denounced. The occasion was a patriotic education drive launched by the Chinese government in the wake of the unrest which spread across much of the Tibetan Plateau over Mar-Apr 2008.

Tharchin was supported by 11 other monks who also stood up to denounce the Chinese patriotic education work team members’ demand. All were arrested.

While three of the monks were later jailed for one and half years each, Tharchin was given a five-year jail sentence. He was initially held in a prison in Shigatse but later moved to Chushul (Qushui) Prison, located in the outskirts of Lhasa, meant for serious offenders.

When released in 2013 after completing his sentence, the monk was in poor health which continued to deteriorate.

Tharchin was born in Drushe village of Shelkar Township, Dingri County.

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