The following is based on a communication written by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and other UN experts to the Government of China on 16 July 2025. The communication remained confidential for 60 days before being made public, giving the Government time to reply. Regrettably, the Government did not reply within this timeframe. If a reply is received, it will be posted on the UN Special Procedures communications database.
This is a shorter version of the original communication.
BACKGROUND
Topic: the alleged arbitrary detention, sentencing and ill-treatment in prison of Ms. Namkyi.
Ms. Namkyi is a woman human rights defender, from a nomadic pastoral family from the Aba (Ngaba) Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, who peacefully expressed support for the Dalai Lama and the freedom and dignity of the Tibetan people.
ALLEGATIONS
On 21 October 2015, Ms. Namkyi, who was 15 years old at the time of the events, along with her cousin, peacefully marched through Martyr’s Square in Ngaba (Aba) County, carrying portraits of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and His Eminence Kirti Rinpoche. They peacefully called for their return to Tibet and for the freedom and dignity of the Tibetan people. The protest reportedly lasted for about 10 minutes, before they were both violently arrested by Chinese police officers, without presenting an arrest warrant.
During the arrest, they were reportedly physically assaulted, pinned to the ground with their mouths covered. The policemen forcibly removed the photos they carried. They were first detained at Ngaba County Detention Center and then transferred to Barkham Detention Center around midnight on the same day.
Over the next six days, Ms. Namkyi was reportedly subjected to torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. In a confined interrogation room, she reportedly faced extreme heat exposure, sleep deprivation and repeated beatings. She was reportedly accused of ‘betraying the Chinese state’, and interrogators demanded that she reveal the source of the protest materials, as well as who ‘instigated’ them. She was then transferred to two other detention centers until her trial in November 2016, where she endured similar conditions of detention.
For over a year after her arrest, Ms. Namkyi was reportedly also subjected to enforced disappearance, as her parents were not informed about her arrest and trial or her place of detention. Her parents learned about her whereabouts only one year after 21 October 2015. She was denied access to a lawyer of her own choosing throughout her detention.
On 23 November 2016, Ms. Namkyi was tried in the Trochu (Heishui) County People’s Court on charges of ‘separatist activities’, and ‘causing problems to the nation’. The prosecutors reportedly offered to reduce her sentence if she expressed regret for her actions or falsely confessed to other crimes, like theft or drug dealing, which she refused. Ms. Namkyi was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison for ‘separatist activities’ and ‘devotion to the Dalai Lama’.
Ms. Niamkyi was transferred to Sichuan Province Women’s Prison, where she was reportedly subjected to inhumane treatment, including military drills, freezing conditions, forced labour and patriotic education. She was reportedly forced to work without recreation, manufacturing copper wires under harsh electric lighting that damaged her eyes. The food given to her was never enough to fill her stomach or provide proper nutrition, and when she fell sick, she was denied medical care. Tibetan inmates held in the same facility were reportedly prevented from making contact with each other. Her family was also rarely allowed to visit her while in detention.
On 21 October 2018, Ms. Namkyi was released from the Sichuan Province Women’s Prison but was detained for another month at Padma Lhatang Dispatch Centre. After her last detention, which was reportedly intended to further intimidate her, Ms. Namkyi was surveilled 24 hours by video cameras, and she often questioned by police officers. She was unable to move freely in her own village, and her entire community risked facing the same treatment should Ms. Namkyi decide to do another protest. The family allegedly had to submit guarantee letters, given that her brother was also imprisoned at that time and the family remained blacklisted.
After fleeing from China shortly after, the police reportedly threatened Ms. Namkyi on the phone to “act better” in exile and informed her that they had detained her parents. She later learned some of her friends had been also detained or unfriended her on WeChat and ended contact with her.
There have been reportedly no investigations carried out into the alleged violations, nor reparation for the harm suffered.
CONCERNS
In the communication, we express our concerns regarding the alleged arbitrary detention and torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of Ms. Namkyi in retaliation for her peaceful human rights activities when she was a minor. We express further concerns regarding the judicial process which lead to her sentencing, which appears to lack due process and fair trial guarantees, as well as the inhumane conditions in which she served her sentence.
We are also concerned that the detention and charges against Ms. Namkyi, and the pressure on her family seem to be measures that have been adopted in direct retribution for Ms. Namkyi’s exercise of her right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, and her work to protect religious freedom in Tibet. Such practices create a profound chilling effect, which deters citizens from expressing their opinions and views, as well as discouraging human rights defenders from carrying out their legitimate work.
