(TibetanReview.net, Dec19, 2017) – China has denied school admission to a Tibetan child in Machu (Chinese: Maqu) County of Gansu Province because her father had been jailed for political activities. What is more, the father is still struggling for life in a hospital long after being released prematurely in 2013 following severe torture in jail, said Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights Democracy (TCHRD) Dec 18.
The centre said the father, named as Shonu Palden, aged 40, had been released on Jul 24, 2013, just into the second year of his two-year-and-nine-month jail sentence.
He was said to have undergone two major surgeries after his release for complications that included blocked arteries, weak eyesight, and breathing and hearing problems. The centre said his health had seen no improvement despite prolonged treatment while his family struggled to meet the rising costs of his treatment.
Shonu Paden, who belongs to the county’s Bhelpan Village, was arrested on Jun 18, 2012 and held incommunicado for two and a half months before being sentenced for having allegedly lead protests in the county in Mar 2008.
Meanwhile, his eight-year-old daughter Namkyi Dolma has been denied school admission allegedly due to her father’s conviction for political offence. School authorities were stated to have cited the submission of incorrect birth date as the ostensible reason for denying her admission. The girl was said to have been born in Nov 2009 while her illiterate parents had mistakenly entered Nov 3, 2011 as her date of birth.
The centre said that while in all such cases the local authorities appropriately handle applications for correction, Namkyi Dolma continued to be denied a corrected date of birth certificate. When asked why, the authorities have told the parents that that it had to do with her father’s past political activities. Continued petitions have yielded no positive response.
Shonu Palden and his wife Tsering Dekyi, 28, have three children: a son and two daughters.
