Dharamshala — A Tibetan monk has been bedridden for two years, unable to stand or speak, and is being fed through a feeding tube, after suffering torture and abuse at the hands of Chinese authorities while in Chinese detention. He had been arrested by the authorities for opposing China’s construction of the Kamtok (Gangtuo) hydroelectric dam, which threatened to destroy centuries-old monasteries in Gege County, Kham, in eastern Tibet.
Gonpo Tsering, Tibetan monk and the head of Yena Monastery in Shiba Village, was among the more than 100 Tibetan monks from the Wonto and Yena monasteries who were arrested by Chinese armed forces on February 22, 2024. Many of them were beaten and injured and were subsequently admitted to Dege County Hospital for treatment. Following Gonpo Tsering’s arrest, Chinese authorities subjected him to severe physical abuse and torture while in custody. As a result, he was urgently transported to West China (Huaxi) Hospital in Chengdu, where he has been in critical condition for the past two years.
"Gonpo Tsering is currently bedridden, unable to stand or speak, and is fed through tubes. He is unresponsive to family members and unable to recognize people around him. Devastated by his son’s detention and condition, his father, Lobsang Dorjee, passed away on Sep. 21, 2025," the source told ICT.
Around 300 Tibetans gathered in front of the Dege county government building on February 14, 2024, and protested against the construction of the largest hydroelectric power plant in their region and the forced displacement of their homes and monasteries. They called on the county authorities to cancel the plan to build the power station and the order to move their homes and monasteries.
The Chinese authorities plan to build a 2,240 megawatt hydropower station on the Drichu River (Jinsha River in Chinese) without the Tibetans' consent to dam construction and resettlement, and have ordered Tibetans and monks from six monasteries and two villages in two townships of Dege County, Kham, eastern Tibet, to resettle in other villages. Therefore, hundreds of Tibetans gathered in front of the Dege county government building on February 14, 2024 and protested against this action and to ask the concerned authorities to put an end to it.
The Chinese authorities brought a specially trained police force to the Wonto village area on February 22, 2024 and arrested more than 100 Tibetan monks from the Wonto and Yena monasteries, as well as local residents, many of whom were beaten and injured before being admitted to Dege County Hospital for treatment.
After peaceful protests by Tibetans and Tibetan monks continued from 14 to 22 February, 2024, the Chinese government sent in trained special forces to arrest the demonstrators. Tibetans working outside their villages returned home and asked the Chinese police to release the detained Tibetans. Unfortunately, the Chinese police arrested those who had made this request and detained more than 1,000 Tibetans on February 23, 2024, including Tibetan monks, local Tibetans and Tibetans from outside the villages. The police have asked family members to bring Tsampa-Tibetan food and blankets to the detention centres, as they do not have enough food for large numbers of detainees.
Tibetans around the world, from the United States to Canada, Europe and India, have protested against the Chinese government's beating and arrest of Tibetans in Dege, Kham,Tibet, for their peaceful protest against the construction of a mega-dam and for forcibly ordering the relocation of six Tibetan monasteries and two villages in Dege County. Tibetans in exile expressed their deep concern about the unfair treatment of detained Tibetans. They also expressed their solidarity with Tibetans detained in Chinese-occupied Tibet.
China-Tibet: The one-thing you need to know
Over the past 70 decades, there has been ongoing political repression, social discrimination, economic marginalization, environmental destruction, and cultural assimilation, particularly due to Chinese migration to Tibet which is fueling intense resentment among the people of occupied Tibet.
The communist-totalitarian state of China began its invasion of Tibet in 1949, reaching complete occupation of the country in 1959. Since that time, more than 1.2 million people, 20% of the nation's population of six million, have died as a direct result of China's invasion and occupation. In addition, over 99% of Tibet's six thousand religious monasteries, temples, and shrines, have been looted or decimated resulting in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of sacred Buddhist scriptures.
Until 1949, Tibet was an independent Buddhist nation in the Himalayas which had little contact with the rest of the world. It existed as a rich cultural storehouse of the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings of Buddhism. Religion was a unifying theme among the Tibetans -- as was their own language, literature, art, and world view developed by living at high altitudes, under harsh conditions, in a balance with their environment.
