Twin self-immolation

Name: Konchok Woeser

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Profession: Monk

Date of Self-immolation: 24 April 2013, 6:40 pm (local time)

Location: Dzoge County, Amdo

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

Name: Lobsang Dawa

Age: 20

Sex: Male

Profession: Monk

Date of Self-immolation: 24 April 2013, 6:40 pm (local time)

Location: Dzoge County, Amdo

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

At around 6:40 pm on 24 April 2013, two monks from Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery — Losang Dawa, 20, and Konchok Woeser, 23, — set themselves on fire within the monastery’s assembly hall while shouting slogans of protest against the Beijing government and its policies in Tibet. They both died at the scene. Fellow monks took their bodies into the main prayer hall to conduct a traditional ceremony and Tibetan rituals for the dead. Local authorities ordered that their bodies be cremated the following day.

Both were known to be model students. Lobsang Dawa, who was studying philosophy was from the Lower Zaru nomad community in Dzoge County and Kunchok Woeser — a student in the monastery’s Tantric College — was from the Tsako Ruwa community in Mechu region of Dzoge.

Twin self-immolation

Name: Konchok Woeser

Age: 23

Sex: Male

Profession: Monk

Date of Self-immolation: 24 April 2013, 6:40 pm (local time)

Location: Dzoge County, Amdo

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

Name: Lobsang Dawa

Age: 20

Sex: Male

Profession: Monk

Date of Self-immolation: 24 April 2013, 6:40 pm (local time)

Location: Dzoge County, Amdo

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

At around 6:40 pm on 24 April 2013, two monks from Taktsang Lhamo Kirti Monastery — Losang Dawa, 20, and Konchok Woeser, 23, — set themselves on fire within the monastery’s assembly hall while shouting slogans of protest against the Beijing government and its policies in Tibet. They both died at the scene. Fellow monks took their bodies into the main prayer hall to conduct a traditional ceremony and Tibetan rituals for the dead. Local authorities ordered that their bodies be cremated the following day.

Both were known to be model students. Lobsang Dawa, who was studying philosophy was from the Lower Zaru nomad community in Dzoge County and Kunchok Woeser — a student in the monastery’s Tantric College — was from the Tsako Ruwa community in Mechu region of Dzoge.

Date: April 16, 2013

Protest location: Tibetan area of Dzamthang (Chinese: Rangtang) county, Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan
Age: 20

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Date: April 16, 2013

Protest location: Tibetan area of Dzamthang (Chinese: Rangtang) county, Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan
Age: 20

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Date: March 26, 2013
Protest location: Near Mokri monastery in Luchu (Chinese: Luqu) County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province
Age: 28

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Info: Konchok Tenzin was a monk at Mokri monastery, which he joined at a young age. Konchok died in the course of the protest, and his body was taken back to the monastery. In fear that the remains would be confiscated by the authorities, they were cremated the same night, according to Kirti monks in exile, in Dharamsala, India.

Following the incident, security forces were deployed around the monastery and nearby villages in large numbers, and a strict crackdown imposed. This is the sixth self -immolation protest in Luchu county so far, and all the protesters involved have died as a result.

Date: March 26, 2013
Protest location: Near Mokri monastery in Luchu (Chinese: Luqu) County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province
Age: 28

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Info: Konchok Tenzin was a monk at Mokri monastery, which he joined at a young age. Konchok died in the course of the protest, and his body was taken back to the monastery. In fear that the remains would be confiscated by the authorities, they were cremated the same night, according to Kirti monks in exile, in Dharamsala, India.

Following the incident, security forces were deployed around the monastery and nearby villages in large numbers, and a strict crackdown imposed. This is the sixth self -immolation protest in Luchu county so far, and all the protesters involved have died as a result.

Date of Self-immolation: Late March/early April, 2013

Location: Kyegudo (Chinese: Yushu)

Age: Early Forties

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Unknown

Slogans: Not reported

Info: Kunchok Tsomo self-immolated in late March in protest over the planned destruction of her home in Kyegudo, (Chinese: Yushu), in Qinghai, according to Radio Free Asia’s Tibetan service. On April 14, 2010, a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the area, killing 2,698 and leaving 100,000 homeless according to the official count. Kunchok Tsomo’s home was among those destroyed by the local authorities as part of the process of rebuilding Yushu as a ‘new city’ following the earthquake. She survived, and is under close official supervision, according to Tibetan sources. She is the third Tibetan from Kyegudo to self-immolate over land-rights issues involved in the reconstruction following the earthquake.

According to a Tibetan source, armed police arrived on the scene of Kunchok Tsomo’s self-immolation quickly and extinguished the flames, and removed her to hospital. She was given urgent medical treatment and recovered, according to the same source. She is now back in her home town and under close official scrutiny. It is not known if her land was returned to her or not.

Source: RFA Tibetan (4 April, 2013)

Name: Lhamo Kyab

Age: 43

Sex: Male

Profession: Forest Guard

Date of Self-immolation: 25 March 2013

Location: Lushoe Village in Tsoe Region, Eastern Tibet

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

A Tibetan forest guard self-immolated and died on 25 March in Lushoe Village in Tsoe Region, Sangchu, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Lhamo Kyab reportedly doused himself in kerosene and then jumped onto a pile of timber which he had already set ablaze. An image received from Tibet depicts what can barely be discerned as human remains on scorched earth beside a heap of charcoal.

Name: Lhamo Kyab

Age: 43

Sex: Male

Profession: Forest Guard

Date of Self-immolation: 25 March 2013

Location: Lushoe Village in Tsoe Region, Eastern Tibet

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

A Tibetan forest guard self-immolated and died on 25 March in Lushoe Village in Tsoe Region, Sangchu, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Lhamo Kyab reportedly doused himself in kerosene and then jumped onto a pile of timber which he had already set ablaze. An image received from Tibet depicts what can barely be discerned as human remains on scorched earth beside a heap of charcoal.

Name: Kalkyi

Age: 30

Sex: Female

Profession: Housewife

Date of Self-immolation: 24 March 2013

Location: Dzamthang, Ngaba, Amdo, Northeastern Tibet

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased

Slogans: Not reported

This 30-year old Tibetan mother of four set fire to herself close to Jonang Gonchen Monastery in Dzamthang, Ngaba, Amdo. According to exile sources, Kalkyi died immediately and local people swiftly took her body into the monastery for prayers to be started at around 3:30 pm before the Chinese security personnel arrived. Kalkyi, who is survived by three sons and one daughter, all under 15 years of age, was from Barma township in Dzamthang.