Reported by Palden
Edited By Pema Tso
Translated By TenGyal
Tibetan activist and former political prisoner Namkyi delivered her testimony at the Geneva Summit 2025, describing the severe torture and oppression she and her sister endured in a Chinese prison. In her speech, Namkyi emphasized that her experience is not an isolated incident; it reflects the plight of all Tibetans imprisoned in Chinese prisons.
On February 18th, former Tibetan political prisoner Namkyi gave an emotional speech at the 17th Geneva Summit, a human rights advocacy meeting convened ahead of the 58th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). She recounted the torture and inhumane treatment that she and her sister were subjected to in Chinese prison. She stated that the Chinese government continues to excessively repress and arbitrarily imprison Tibetans inside Tibet.
Before she began her speech, she brought and raised a big portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the stage and proclaimed loudly, “ May His Holiness the Dalai Lama Live for a Thousand Years! His Holiness the Dalai Lama must be allowed to return to Tibet! Tibet Must Be Free!” At the same time, a video of the peaceful protest that that she and her sister staged in Tibet was played on the background screen.
As she began her testimony, she stated, “ I am a simple nomad from Amdo in Tibet. On October 21st, 2015, my sister Tenzin Dolma and I staged a non-violent and peaceful protest in Tibet. Even though we were only fifteen at the time, the Chinese authorities handcuffed us and sent us to prison. The Chinese policemen beat and slapped us, asking ‘ Did the Dalai Clique put you up to this?’. They tortured and beat us mercilessly for six days without letting us sleep. If I were meat at that moment, I would have been boiled. If I were butter, I would have melted away. Then, for more than a year and a half, my sister and I were kept in separate prisons. For more than a year, I was imprisoned with strict restrictions and not allowed to talk to any other prisoners, even though all other inmates in Chinese prisons were allowed to speak to each other.”
She also testified, “In addition to the extremely poor quality of the prison food, which is grown with fertilizers and chemicals, I was subjected to constant forced labor. In the prison, Tibetan inmates were put under specially strict supervision, extremely oppressed and subjected to ethnical discrimination. What I am recounting now is not just my own personal experience. This is the story of all of those thousands of Tibetans who have suffered and continue to suffer in Chinese prisons… In the Chinese prison , when forced to do labor, they clearly knew that my physical condition was poor and that I was not getting enough nutrition. Yet, we had no freedom of movement, and we were forced to do long hours of labor without being allowed to move from a position at all.”
In her testimony, she also went on to state that prisoners were forced to memorize various “communist political education” documents, including the Chinese government’s constitution and laws. Prison leaders would hatefully target them, accusing them of being separatists, and subjecting them to relentless beatings for any slight perceived misconduct.
From February 10th to 14th, for five days in Geneva, Namkyi testified to the deplorable human rights condition in Tibet ,recounted her harrowing experience of torture and inhumane treatment in Chinese prison and campaigned for the Tibetan cause with key representatives of different countries in Switzerland and high ranking officials of the United Nations.
Namkyi, a former Tibetan political prisoner was born into a simple nomadic family in Pema Lhathang, Charo Village, Ngaba County. On October 21st, 2015, Namkyi and her sister Tenzin Dolma staged a peaceful protest and shouted slogans on the Martyrs Road in Ngaba County. The Chinese government arrested her and sentenced her to three years imprisonment on the charges of “separatism”. She was released after completing her sentence on October 21st, 2018. On May 27th, 2023 she reached the Tibetan Reception Center in Nepal with her relative, Tsering Kyi. In the same year, she reached the central Tibetan Reception Centre in Dharamshala on June 28th. Currently, the two of them are studying at the Sherab Gatsel Ling School in Khanyara, Dharamshala.
