Takna Jigme Sangpo was the longest-serving political prisoner of Tibet, having spent 37 years in a prison near Lhasa. He passed away in the morning of October 17, 2020 at an elderly care home in Turbenthal, Switzerland, where he had been based since receiving political asylum in 2003. Tibetans and Tibet supporters across the world are mourning his death.
First imprisoned in 1965, Takna was released from prison on a medical parole on 31 March 2002 after serving more than three decades in prison. He had reached the advanced age of 76 by then. He was first reportedly arrested in 1960 while teaching at the Lhasa Primary School on charges of “corrupting the minds of children with reactionary ideas.” In 1964 he received a second sentence, where he served three years in Sangyip Prison for making comments regarding Chinese repression of Tibetans and also for not criticizing the late Panchen lama during thamzing (struggle) sessions.
37 Years in Prison
He was first sentenced to three years of “re-education through labour” in 1965 because, as a schoolteacher (became a teacher in 1952), he had “corrupted the minds of children with reactionary ideas” (in fact, he taught Tibetan history, culture and language, then forbidden in Tibet). He served a further ten-year sentence from 1970 as punishment for “political activities”. In 1983 he received a 15-year sentence and five years deprivation of civil and political rights for “spreading and inciting counter-revolutionary propaganda” after he had been seen pasting a personally written wall poster at the gates of the Jokhang temple in Lhasa on 12 July 1983. That sentence was increased by five years after he shouted “reactionary slogans” in Drapchi on 1 December 1988.
On 6 December 1991, he was reportedly beaten, held in solitary confinement for six weeks, and his sentence extended by eight years for shouting “Free Tibet” during a visit to Drapchi prison by the Swiss ambassador to China. Following his involvement in protests at Drapchi prison on 1 May 1998 until 4 May 1998, he was held in solitary confinement.
Even while imprisoned, he continued to protest for a free Tibet, for which he was given additional prison sentences of many years. Despite his advanced age and years in prison, he continued to encourage his fellow Tibetans in their struggle for freedom. An April 2002 report described him as “one of the most determined and intransigent political prisoners in Drapchi . . . highly respected by other political prisoners”. John Kamm, director of the Dui Hua Foundation, has been involved in negotiations for Sangpo’s release.
Testifies at the UN Council
Sangpo was released on 31 March 2002, and was authorized to go to Washington on 13 July 2002. In August 2002, he settled in Switzerland as a political refugee. He was invited to speak at the UN Council on 6 June 2008. Sangpo is listed in the US Congressional Executive Commission On China Political Prisoner Database (PPD). Gu Chu Sum Movement of Tibet, an ex-political prisoners organisation, in McLeod Ganj published his biography on 24 January 2014.
In April 2003, he first testified at the UN Commission on Human Rights, in which he said: “this old man from Tibet, appeals to all nations in this hall to help end the human suffering of the Tibetans. Please urge the Chinese government to open earnest negotiations with His Holiness the Dalai Lama to resolve the long-standing Tibetan Issue in the interest of both the Tibetan and Chinese peoples. The unfortunate people of Tibet, including the political prisoners, who are the same human being as everyone else in this hall, urgently need your support before it is too late…I pray for an end to the suffering of all political prisoners in this world”. On 6 June 2008, he addressed the UN Council.
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