The Tibet Post

Dharamshala: Two famous Tibetan writers are currently receiving hospital treatment in Chengdu, near Eastern Tibetan, following injuries sustained during interrogation and torture by Chinese police, according to a source from inside Tibet, who wishes to remain anonymous.

In an e-mail sent to Tibet Post International, our source says that at midnight on June 5 the writers Goyon and Thupten Gedun, of the Tibetan Pen Association, were walking at midnight with their schoolfriend Serta Sherab to a restaurant in Chengdu, when a Chinese a police car and other unmarked cars drew up. 15 police, some wearing no uniform, then threatened them and sprayed them with a gas which rendered them unconscious. They were then taken to a police station.

Our source quotes the writers as saying, "When we reached the police station, the police sat us in chairs with automated hand and ankle restraints. They confiscated all our valuables, such as mobile phones, cameras, identity cards, wallets, etc.

"They then harshly interrogated us, asking for detailed information on our current work and political participation. They beat us continuously and threated us with guns placed to our foreheads. When we asked what we had done wrong, they beat us more."

Our source reports that the policed tortured Goyon and Thupten Gedun with "electrical equipment" to elicit confessions, but interrogated Serta Sherab less severely.

"The police used our ID card numbers to investigate whether we had any police record," our source quotes the writers as saying, "but the search came back clear."

"At 8am the following day, the police entered our ID card numbers on a computer. At last they released us, but with the knowledge that they could bring us back for further interrogation at any time."

Our source reports that this incident is indicative of an apparently growing trend of police brutality against educated Tibetans, who represent an increasing proportion of Tibetans inside Tibet.

Goyon and Thupten Gedun, who hail Kham traditional province, edit the annual magazines Tibet and Purgyal kyi Namshey (Soul of Ancient Kings).