Brussels, 18/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 March, Tibetan monk and human rights campaigner Golog Jigme called on Europeans to address the situation of the people of Tibet. “I'm launching a call: please don't pretend not to see or hear the suffering of the Tibetan people. Tibet is like a prison for them”, he told MEPs in the European Parliament's human rights committee. “The fight for freedom needs your support”, he added.
The monk, who is in exile, has called on the Chinese authorities to authorise journalists, parliamentarians or observers to visit Tibet at any point during the year, and to implement a moratorium on the settlement of Tibetan nomads. “China must improve the living conditions of over 1,000 Tibetan prisoners detained in Chinese prisons, and must release all Tibetans who have been detained because they expressed their point of view freely”, he added. The campaigner also criticised the new legislation on terrorism which, in his view, leads to a generalisation where nearly every non-violent action and peaceful expression of the Tibetan culture is penalised.
Jigme also told of the torture he suffered when he was arrested because of the production of a documentary on the situation in Tibet. He was deprived of sleep, food and drink, and was hit, burned, tortured naked, and chained to an iron chair fitted with spikes for 51 days.
The monk received the support of the MEPs. The chair of the committee session, Laszlo Tokes (EPP, Hungary), said that the sub-committee on human rights would ask the European External Action Service (EEAS) to continue to raise the case of the Tibetans with China. Tokes added that there was a need for the release of all political prisoners. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)