Lithang Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche or Tenzing Deleg () (1950 – 2015) was a Tibetan

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

leader from Garze,

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

. He is also known for working to develop social, medical, educational and religious institutions for Tibetan nomads in eastern Tibet, as an advocate for environmental conservation in the face of indiscriminate logging and mining projects, and as a mediator between Tibetans and Chinese.Free Tibetan Heroes: Tenzin Delek Rinpoche

International Tibet Network The International Tibet Network, established in 2000, is a global coalition of Tibet-related non-governmental organisations campaigning to end the China's occupation and human rights violations in Tibet, and restore rights to the Tibetan people. ...

Personal life

Rinpoche was born in

Lithang Litang (; ) is in southwest of Garzê Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China. Litang is part of Kham in the Tibetan cultural zone, and several famous Buddhist figures were born here, including the 7th Dalai Lama, the 10th Dalai Lama, the ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

. On 7 April 2002 he was arrested during a raid on Jamyang Choekhorling in Garze,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and accused of being involved in a bomb attack on 3 April 2002 on the central square of Sichuan's provincial capital,

Chengdu Chengdu (, ; Simplified Chinese characters, simplified Chinese: 成都; pinyin: ''Chéngdū''; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively Romanization of Chi ...

. He was convicted for alleged involvement in a series of unsolved bombings in his region by the Chinese authorities and sentenced to death in December 2002 along with Lobsang Dhondup, a 28-year-old assistant of his. Lobsang was executed almost immediately in late January 2003,Petition to Save Tibetan Monk Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, Prisoner in China
AsiaNews, 29 January 2007. marking the first execution of a Tibetan for political crimes in 20 years. Tenzin Delek's trial began on 29 November 2002 before the Local Court in Garze and was sentenced to death with a two-year execution adjournment. Overseas

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

groups and

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human rights experts protested that the case against him was seriously flawed, that he did not receive a fair trial, and was mistreated in detention. His sentence was commuted to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

on 26 January 2005. Many overseas advocates of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche continued to fight for a retrial. In November 2009, 40,000 Tibetans in Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's home area signed a petition asking for a re-trial. They staged a hunger strike at the county seat of Lithang for a few days, which led to the temporary arrest of about 70 Tibetans. He died on 12 July 2015 in

at the age of 65. Prior to his death Tibetans and rights groups had called for his release on medical parole. His death was followed by calls for the release of his body in order to determine the cause of death and carry out traditional funeral rites; one protest was met by China's security forces opening fire, injuring several Tibetans. Chinese authorities cremated the body without an autopsy.

Statement by Tenzin Delek

"Since I am a Tibetan, I have always been sincere and devoted to the interests and well-being of Tibetan people. That is the real reason why the Chinese do not like me and framed me. That is why they are going to take my precious life even though I am innocent."Transcript of recording of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche obtained from the detention center in Dartsedo, the capital of Kardze Tibet Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province, on 20 January 2003. Radio Free Asia received the recording the following morning.

References

External links

Free Tibetan HeroesUnjust Sentence: A Special Report on Trulku Tenzin Delek, TCHRD, Dharamsala, 2004Petition to for re-trial of Tenzin Delek RinpocheSaveTenzin.orgList of projects by Tenzin DelekStudents for a Free Tibet's campaign page for Tenzin Delek
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delek, Tenzin 1950 births 2015 deaths Tibetan environmentalists Tulkus Lamas People from Garze Tibetan Buddhists from Tibet Rinpoches Chinese prisoners sentenced to death Prisoners sentenced to death by the People's Republic of China Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the People's Republic of China 20th-century lamas Terrorism in China Prisoners who died in Chinese detention

Personal life

Statement by Tenzin Delek

See also

References

External links