Tashi Wangchuk, 32, a Tibetan activist, has been given a five year jail sentence in China for “inciting separatism,” because he appeared in a New York Times video in 2016, speaking about his efforts to preserve his native language. The video showed Tashi’s attempts in Beijing to get state media and courts to address what he describes as the diminishing of the Tibetan language and the “systematic slaughter of our culture.” Tashi spoke in the video in Mandarin, talking about the “pressure and fear” felt by Tibetans but he has never advocated independence from China.
Tashi, was detained two months after the video and accompanying article were published, and went on trial in January this year where he pleaded “not guilty” to the charge of incitement to separatism. He was not sentenced until May 22. Tashi’s lawyer Liang Xiaojun has said that he plans to appeal against his sentence and international Tibet support groups have started a petition.
The conviction and sentence have been widely reported in the international media, including the New York Times, the Guardian, the Telegraph, the BBC, Deutsche Welle (Germany’s international broadcaster) and the Times of India.
The Times of India commented that “The case highlights the authoritarian government’s extreme sensitivity to issues involving ethnic minorities as well as the risks Chinese citizens run when criticising government policies to foreign media.“
The American State Department made a statement in support of Tashi Wangchuk. “We urge Chinese authorities to release Tashi Wangchuk immediately, and to protect the distinct religious, cultural, and linguistic identity of Tibetans.”
The Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, issued a statement expressing concern over China’s harsh sentencing of Tashi Wangchuk. He called on China to drop the charges and release him in line with an official resolution passed by the European Parliament in January.
Amnesty International’s statement criticised the sentence: “Today’s verdict against Tashi Wangchuk is a gross injustice. He is being cruelly punished for peacefully drawing attention to the systematic erosion of Tibetan culture. To brand peaceful activism for Tibetan language as ‘inciting separatism’ is beyond absurd,” said Joshua Rosenzweig, East Asia Research Director at Amnesty International. “Tashi’s treatment exposes the ruthless lengths to which the Chinese authorities will go to silence those who ask the government to stop cultural assimilation. Tashi must be immediately and unconditionally released.”
Canada has also lent support in a tweet saying, “Canada calls on the Government of China to release Tashi Wangchuk immediately and unconditionally. Canada urges the Chinese government to uphold its own Constitution and laws, and to respect its international human rights obligations. Canada supports the February 2018 United Nations Special Rapporteurs statement, which condemns the detention of Mr Tashi Wangchuk as the criminalisation of linguistic and cultural rights advocacy”.
To watch the New York Times video click here
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