Profiles of Courage: DAY 44 – January 26th

Lobsang Dhondup (1975-2003)
Trader; Executed by Chinese authorities in 2003

On Day 44 in the countdown, we commemorate the life of Lobsang Dhondup who at the age of 28 was executed. His premature death strikes at the heart of the injustice of China's occupation of Tibet.

Lobsang Dhondup grew up in Nyagchu, Lithang County. His family were farmers and in his mid-twenties, he started a small business trading medicine and other items. In April 2002, Lobsang Dhondup was arrested for his alleged involvement in a bomb blast incident in the main square of Chengdu in China's Sichuan Province. He had no previous history of political activism.

Lobsang Dhondup was a distant relative of the revered buddhist teacher Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and spent a year studying in his monastery. Chinese authorities had for many years tried to silence Tenzin Delek, an outspoken community and environmental activist who struggled to develop social, medical, educational and religious institutions in Lithang county in eastern Tibet. Although he had been arrested several times, he was subsequently released, following widespread community pressure.

It is believed that Lobsang Dhondup was targeted by Chinese authorities in order to extract a confession from him linking Tenzin Delek to the same bombing charges. After his arrest, Lobsang Dhondup was brutally tortured and Chinese authorities claimed he confessed to Tenzin Delek's involvement.

According to information gained by Human Rights Watch, during their trial in December 2002, both Lobsang Dhondup and Tenzin Delek declared their innocence.

"According to reports from two spectators, Lobsang Dondrup shouted out his innocence during his sentencing hearing and denied that he had ever said anything about Tenzin Delek or others being involved in a bombing plot. Tenzin Delek also denied the charges, reiterating his innocence in a tape smuggled from a detention center in Dartsedo,the prefectural capital, in mid-January 2003."

On, December 2, 2002 Lobsang Dhondup was sentenced to immediate death penalty. Tenzin Delek was also sentenced to death. They had been denied access to independent lawyers and did not receive a fair trial. The sentences prompted an international outcry by Tibetans and supporters. Many governments, including the European Union, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, immediately issued demarches - the strongest form of a diplomatic protest. Chinese authorities gave assurances that both men would receive a thorough re-trial.

But after a secret trail in Sichuan Provincial Higher People's Court, Lobsang Dhondup was executed on January 26th, 2003, the first known execution of a Tibetan for political crimes in 20 years.

On the same day, Tenzin Delek's death sentence was upheld with a two year reprieve. After an intense global campaign, his sentence was commuted to life in prison on January 26, 2005.