In October 1993, 14 nuns in Drapchi Prison, the largest in Tibet, made a recording of freedom songs on a tape-recorder smuggled out of the prison with the help of a non-political prisoner. The recording was then distributed throughout Tibet and later the rest of the world. Despite the great risk, each of the women stated her name on the recording and dedicated a song or poem to friends and supporters. Rigzin Choenyi, who was in Drapchi Prison at the time of the recording, stated that the fourteen nuns had taken this risk in order to let the world know of their presence in prison. The songs are a testament to the suffering and agony of Tibetan political prisoners that the Chinese claim do not even exist.
Song Of Sadness In Our Hearts
"MAY NO OTHERS SUFFER LIKE THIS" The song sung by the nuns on the recording lament their suffering in prison, demand freedom for Tibet and celebrate Tibetan Buddhism and the life of the Dalai Lama. They are songs which are known and sung by many Tibetan prisoners to ease their suffering and pass the interminable hours of life in prison. Rigzin Choenyi recalled that during the nights the nuns would sing these songs and cry each other, and when they sang about His Holiness Dalai Lama they would feel the courage to survive.
They Sing A Song Of Sadness
"WE'LL NEVER BE DISHEARTENED" The young nuns who recorded these songs were all put in Drapchi Prison for peaceful protests for Tibet's independence. Unfortunately, the Chinese confiscated one of the two tapes they had recorded and deemed the songs to be "spreading counter-revolutionary propaganda.'' A trial was held on October 8, 1993 and each of the nuns had their sentences increased by between five and nine years, with the longest sentence, that of Phuntshok Nyidron, then totaling 17 years. One of the nuns who made the recording was Ngawang Sangdrol. She was born in 1977 and arrested for the first time in 1987, at the age of 10, for participating in a demonstration. At that time she detained for 15 days. In 1990, at the age of 13, she was again arrested for participating in a demonstration in Lhasa on August 28, 1990. Although she was considered too young to be tried, Ngawang was detained for nine months. Then on June 17, 1992 she was arrested for demonstrating and was sentenced to three years in prison. A year later she had this sentence increased by six years for recording the nationalist songs. Since that time she has had her sentence increased by another nine years reportedly for shouting ''Free Tibet'' when she was forced to stand in the rain for punishment. One young nun who had been in Drapchi prison with Ngawang Sandrol reported her to have been singled out for severe punishment since that time and her health to have deteriorated due to the severe torture she had endured. Ngawang is currently the female political prisoner with the longest prison term in Tibet. She is not due to be released until 2010 at which time she will have spent more then half of her 33 years in prison. All of the young nuns who made the recording in 1993 continue to live behind prison bars. Since 1993, many other nuns like these fourteen have suffered simply for singing songs in prison. On August 10, 1994, Sherap Ngawang, one of the youngest political prisoners, Ngawang Wangdron and other nuns at Trisam Prison sang nationalist songs in rebellion against the Chinese punishment of them for singing ordinary songs. The Chinese heard them singing and took them out of their cells to a dark room where they were forced to kneel and were beaten with sticks and electric cattle prods all night. Ngawang Wangdron described it as the worst beating she had received in prison. Then they were kept in solitary confinement for seven days with nothing to lie on and only one dumpling a day to eat. At the end of the seven days were taken out and were again beaten very badly. For two months after this Sherap Ngawang had extreme pain in her kidneys and was unable to walk. She and Ngawang Wangdron were released in February 1995, at the end of their three years sentences. Yet Sherap Ngawang was still very ill even after returning home, due to the severe beating she had received in prison. Although she was taken to many doctors nothing could be done and she died shortly after her release from prison. Ngawang Wangdron escaped to India in 1995. Unable to walk from her injuries caused by the beatings she received in the prison, she had to be carried the entire way. She now lives in exile in Dharamsala.
All The Tibetan Brethren
"LAND OF SNOWS" Although the punishment for singing freedom songs in prison in severe, it is believed that the political prisoners in Tibet continue to sing them today as a source of comfort and inspiration to each other and in their never-ending defiance of the Chinese occupation. |