Chinese authorities have reportedly arrested four Tibetan students while four other remain missing following an attempt to escape to India in March, according to information obtained by the prominent research group Tibet Watch on Tuesday.
According to the research group, the eight Tibetan students were from Second Middle School in the so called Chuchen (Jinchuan in Chinese) County, Ngaba Tibetan and Jiang Autonomous Prefecture. It is reported that the arrested students have been subjected to detention and torture and, the whereabouts of the other four missing students remain unknown.
An anonymous source who is familiar with the situation told Tibet Watch that each detained student was fined 20,000 yuan (roughly $2,761). The same source also said that the authorities have contacted the parents of the other four missing students, informing them that their children had crossed the border and are supposedly in the hands of ‘criminal or blacklisted organisations’. Parents were told that they may be able to retrieve their children, but only if they are willing to pay 80,000RMB per person (roughly £8700).
The detention of Tibetan students by Chinese authorities highlights the ongoing treatment of Tibetans by Chinese authorities and the persisting human rights concerns in the region. Over the years, there have been reports of Tibetans fleeing Tibet and seeking refuge in India, with thousands managing to escape annually from the 1980s to the 2000s. However, recent years have witnessed a significant decline in the number of Tibetan escapees reaching India, with the figure dropping to less than 100 per year.