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Statement in support of three environmentalist brothers in Tibet by global conservation activists
21 Oct, 2010
Environmentalists from Asia, Europe and the US have called for the release of three brothers imprisoned in Tibet who were known for their vital conservation efforts.
The statement, signed by organizations including the Environmental Investigation Agency based in the UK and activists including Gordon Roddick, reports that the sentencing of the three Tibetan brothers on trumped-up charges not only has terrible consequences for individuals involved, but also significant implications for emerging civil society in China.
Rinchen Samdrup, 44, the recipient of a major Ford Motor Company award for nature conservation, was sentenced to five years on July 3. His younger brother, 42-year old Karma Samdrup, a well-known philanthropist and founder of the Three Rivers Environmental Protection Group, was sentenced to 15 years on June 24 and told the court that he had been severely tortured in detention. There are also fears for their handicapped brother Chime Namgyal, serving 21 months in a labor camp, who can no longer walk or eat without assistance after being tortured.
Charges against the three brothers, whose conservation work was acclaimed both within China and internationally, are widely regarded to have been rigged after their efforts to stop the poaching of endangered species in their home area in the Tibet Autonomous Region clashed with the local authorities.
The statement by environmentalists and Tibet supporters is as follows:
In a case that has significant implications for emerging civil society in China, three Tibetan brothers known for their community conservation projects, including tree-planting and wildlife protection, have been imprisoned.
Charges against the three brothers, whose conservation work was acclaimed both within China and internationally, are widely regarded to have been rigged after their efforts to stop the poaching of endangered species in their home area of Chamdo (Chinese: Changdu) Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region clashed with the local authorities. Environmental work in the area has been severely affected as a result.
The charges against Karma Samdrup, sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, Rinchen Samdrup, serving five years, and their disabled brother Chime Namgyal, now in a labor camp for 21 months, demonstrate serious violations of China’s own Criminal Procedure Law and should be dropped. There are reports that all three brothers have been tortured. Their mother, who is in her mid-seventies, was beaten unconscious when police accompanied by a senior local official came to detain two of the brothers. Two cousins of the brothers, a Tibetan monk, and a young Tibetan teacher have also been detained or ‘disappeared’.
In addition to the terrible cost to the three brothers’ lives, their family and community, we believe that their imprisonment is profoundly damaging to an emerging civil society in Tibet and China, and in particular to those undertaking essential environmental protection work. There is increasing awareness about the global significance of Tibet’s environment as the earth’s ‘third pole’, which is warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, and is the source of most of Asia's major rivers. At a time of environmental crisis in China, the ground-breaking community conservation work of individuals like Karma and Rinchen Samdrup is essential for the future of China and Asia, as well as Tibet.
It is increasingly acknowledged by governments worldwide that NGOs, civil society and local stakeholders must be part of a solution to coping with climate change. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has emphasised this point. The imprisonment of these local environmental leaders, who were seeking to uphold laws on nature conservation, seriously calls into question China’s reliability as a partner in seeking global solutions.
The environment is one of the common areas of interest between Chinese and Tibetans, and this case was an opportunity for China to demonstrate progress in the implementation of environmental protection measures. We are concerned that the Chinese authorities appear to have chosen the opposite route, and used the law and courts to serve political purposes rather than upholding justice.
Among the charges against Chime Namgyal, whose life is now endangered following torture, was helping his brother Rinchen to “illegally compile three discs of audio-visual materials on the ecology, environment, natural resources and religion of Chamdo Prefecture". Rinchen Samdrup was a humble but inspiring figure in his community who organized litter collection, monitoring of illegal hunting, and the planting of thousands of trees. His village is in the Yangtze River watershed, so Chinese conservationists regard planting trees there as not only essential for the local environment, but also for the protection of water and soil on the upper reaches of the Yangtze. In an article in the official Chinese press published even after his detention, a Chinese journalist praised him for his environmental work, saying that it was helpful to the government's aims of ecological protection.
In a blog written a day after her husband’s sentencing to 15 years, Karma Samdrup’s wife Drolkar Tso said that she wished to express her deep gratitude to the two Chinese lawyers who defended him. She wrote: “We are striving for truth and justice together, no matter if we are Chinese or Tibetan.[…] I thank these two lawyers, I thank all friends of all nationalities, and from the beginning to the end, I have not felt alone.”
We wish Drolkar Tso, her husband Karma Samdrup and his two brothers Rinchen Samdrup and Chime Namgyal to know that we, too, representatives of environmental organizations across the globe, stand by their side against this injustice, and call for their immediate release.
Signed
Environmental Investigation Agency, UK
Gordon Roddick, activist, UK
Foundation Green Planet, France
Vandana Shiva, environmentalist, India
The Wildlife Trust of India
Belinda Wright, Wildlife Protection Society of India
Tashi Tsering, Three Rivers Network, USA
The Ecological Society of the Philippines
Tesi Environmental Awareness Movement, India
Barbara Maas, Care for the Wild, UK
Caroline Lucas, Green MEP, UK
International Tibet Support Network Tibet Third Pole group
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