Tibetan man burns himself to death in China protest

Tashi Rabten is the 145th Tibetan to do so since 2009

BEIJING // A man burnt himself to death in protest against China’s presence in Tibet while calling for the return of the Dalai Lama, a human rights group said yesterday.

He was the first Tibetan since March this year to die in that manner.

The man, who was in his thirties and identified as Tashi Rabten by The International Campaign for Tibet, walked down a road in north-west China’s Maqu region with his body engulfed in flames while a passer-by recited prayers. According to the Tibetan government in exile in India, Rabten is the 145th Tibetan to self-immolate since 2009.

Rabten’s wife, two of his children and several family members were detained by police after they went to claim his remains from local authorities, according to human rights group Free Tibet.

“Having lost a father and a husband, Tashi Rabten’s family now find themselves in detention. The cruelty of this system knows no bounds,” said Free Tibet. “The only crime they have committed is to be the family of someone who has embarrassed China by once again reminding the world that their occupation and these human rights abuses cause Tibetans real pain. And sometimes this pain pushes Tibetans to make the ultimate sacrifice.”

Beijing said its troops “peacefully liberated” Tibet in 1951, but many Tibetans accuse the central government of repressing their religion and of eroding their culture. The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, fled into exile after a failed uprising in 1959.

Tibetan monks in China have reported a campaign of government intimidation targeting the family and friends of those who set themselves on fire.

According to The International Campaign for Tibet, Rabten, a former monk, had a cousin who killed himself in the same manner on the same street in 2012.

In March this year, two Tibetans, a monk in China and a teenager in India, set themselves on fire to protest against China’s control of the Himalayan region.