There are fears for the safety of Tibetan political prisoner and former monk Jigme Gyatso following reports that he has been maltreated and held in isolation since his meeting with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Dr Manfred Nowak, in November 2005. Jigme Gyatso, who is serving 18 years in prison for 'counter-revolution' and 'inciting splittism', was apparently hospitalized earlier this year for a period of several weeks and is now unable to walk properly due to a leg injury. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, who met him during an official visit to Chushur (Chinese: Qushui) Prison near Lhasa on November 27, 2005 and called for his release, has been informed by ICT about the concerns for Jigme Gyatso's welfare.

Forty-five year old Jigme Gyatso, a former monk from Kanlho (Chinese: Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Gansu province, was sentenced to 15 years in prison on November 23, 1996 for "leading a counter-revolutionary organisation", according to the official sentencing document in Chinese, a copy of which has been obtained by ICT and is published below in English. Jigme Gyatso told the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture that he had received a two-year sentence extension in May 2004 after shouting pro-Dalai Lama slogans while in Drapchi Prison, Lhasa. But the San Francisco-based organisation Dui Hua has subsequently been informed by official sources that the sentence extension was three years, giving a new release date for Jigme Gyatso of March 30, 2014.

Jigme Gyatso received the longest sentence of a group of four other Tibetans who carried out various acts of peaceful resistance, including putting up a Tibetan national flag at Ganden monastery and discussing Tibetan independence. The sentencing document issued by the Lhasa Intermediate People's Court makes it clear that Jigme Gyatso was regarded as the ring-leader, who had "systematically and purposefully organized an illegal and counter-revolutionary organisation that seriously damaged the social order". At the time of his arrest in March 1996, he was running a restaurant in Lhasa after studying at Ganden monastery.

During his years in prison, Jigme Gyatso has endured severe torture on several occasions, including one incident in 1997 when he was beaten so severely that he could not move for several days. He told the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture on November 28 last year that conditions were much worse at the prison he is currently being held, Chushur, than at Drapchi. He said that at Drapchi the food was better, the cells were better lit and ventilated, and the temperatures inside were not as extreme in summers and winters. For some time since this conversation, Jigme Gyatso has been held in solitary confinement in particularly restricted conditions, and has reportedly suffered severe beatings.

Jigme Gyatso's case was one of those raised to the Chinese authorities during a visit by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention's visit to Lhasa in September 2004. The Working Group has stated that Jigme Gyatso's case was that of arbitrary detention in violation of articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whereby "everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association, that is, to associate, assemble and demonstrate peacefully."

Dr Manfred Nowak, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, said in a report about his visit to China published March 10: "Since he has been convicted of a political crime, possibly on the basis of information extracted by torture, the Special Rapporteur appeals to the Government that he be released."

Jigme Gyatso became a monk at the age of 21 at Labrang Tashikhyil Monastery in Gansu province and later transferred to Ganden Monastery in Lhasa. In the mid-1980s, he visited India and studied for some months at Drepung Monastery in south India.

Following his return from Tibet, he was first detained in March 1996 under suspicion of political activities, and held at Gutsa detention center in Lhasa prior to sentencing. A friend of Jigme Gyatso's who is now in exile told ICT: "Jigme Gyatso was severely tortured at Gutsa. He was held in a dark room, separate to about 17 other Tibetans who were detained at the same time. He was kept in heavy shackles." The same Tibetan source said that during his initial detention, Jigme Gyatso managed to smuggle out a letter to a comrade saying that he was likely to receive a long prison sentence, but that he had no regrets. He referred to the 10th Panchen Lama's long prison sentence, and others who had served terms in jail for freedom, including the South African civil rights leader Nelson Mandela. When prison officials discovered that he had sent this letter, Jigme Gyatso was beaten.

In September 1997, security personnel from his home area came to interrogate him and tortured him so severely that he was reportedly unable to move for several days. He also endured torture together with all other political prisoners in Drapchi, following protests coinciding with the visit of a European Union delegation of Beijing-based ambassadors from three different European countries to the prison in May 1998. Jigme Gyatso reportedly sustained head wounds during the beatings in the aftermath of the protests on May 1 and 4 1998.

Jigme Gyatso's recent sentence extension was imposed after an incident in March 2004 in which he yelled out, "Long live the Dalai Lama," for which he was kicked and beaten, including with electric batons. The report of the UN Rapporteur on Torture states: "The electric batons were used on his back and chest with painful effect, and ceased once the Chief of Police came and stopped it."

Dr Nowak was the first official international observer to visit the prison where Jigme Gyatso and other Tibetan political prisoners are held in Chushur (Chinese: Qushui) county, near Nyethang (Chinese: Nidang), off the road leading south from Lhasa towards Shigatse, where some Tibetan political prisoners have been transferred. Dr Nowak noted that in this prison as well as the others he visited in Tibet and China there is "a palpable level of fear and self-censorship".

The Tibetan source, who is now in exile, expressed concern for his friend Jigme Gyatso's current condition, saying: "He is a very honest and open-minded person with great devotion to the Tibetan people." Enclosed below is a translation by ICT from the original Chinese of Jigme Gyatso's sentencing document. Tibetan names and other details have been added by ICT in square brackets.