THE END OF TIBET:

It has been only a few months since Zangmo and her friend fled Tibet on foot over the Himalayas to this squat, block-shaped center for Tibetan refugees in India. The two women had been imprisoned along with a group of other nuns, some for as long as sixteen years. They were first arrested in 1990 for staging a protest in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, to demonstrate their outrage over China’s continuing presence in their native land. As the women chanted “Free Tibet,” Chinese police moved quickly, knocking them to the ground and dragging them to jail before their protest could attract attention. Inside the prison, Chinese authorities subjected the nuns to a brutal routine. “Police stuck electric prods into my vagina and then hung me from the ceiling,” Zangmo says softly. Her voice doesn’t waver, but she looks away. Some of her friends lost consciousness as soon as guards pushed the cattle prods inside them, but Zangmo remained alert throughout the torture. “I was totally, totally frightened,” she says.

Police eventually transferred the women to Drapchi, the most feared prison in Lhasa. According to human rights organizations like the International Campaign for Tibet, there are hundreds of political prisoners in Tibet, the majority of them Buddhist clergy. Scores have died from torture at the hands of Chinese authorities: electric shock, hanging, forced blood extraction.

“They tried to pull my arms out of my sockets, and beat my legs and arms with metal bars and shocked me,” recalls Phuntsog Nyidron, another nun who was imprisoned at Drapchi. “I was worried they could easily kill me.” After repeated beatings, a monk named Lobsang Choephel hanged himself at Drapchi, his body dangling from the iron bars of his cell.

The punishment was most severe for those who refused to give up their faith. “In Drapchi, there were numerous demonstrations,” Zangmo says. One day, four nuns refused to renounce their Buddhist beliefs in front of the Chinese guards. “They were beaten until they died.” Zangmo stares at the floor and starts to cry, her voice breaking. “They died together.” […] [clipped]

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