Ngawang Sangdrol is a young Tibetan nun serving a prison term of 21 years for a series of peaceful protests against the occupation of her homeland and the suppression of her religion. Her original sentence of three years has already been extended several times, making her the longest serving female political prisoner in Tibet, a land full of political prisoners, and one of the longest serving prisoners of conscience in the world.

In October 2000, at the age of 24, Ngawang Sangdrol was nominated for the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of
Thought, which is awarded annually by the European Parliament,

to honour individuals or organisations who have devoted themselves to human rights and fundamental freedoms and the struggle
against oppression and injustice.

Ultimately, the prize was awarded to the Basque group, Basta Ya!, a citizen's group struggling against political violence
in Spain's Basque country. The government of the People's Republic of China had protested the nomination of Ngawang Sangdrol, whom they consider
to be a 'criminal'

Lhasa

As a ten year old, Ngawang and a small group of her sister nuns from Garu nunnery staged a protest march to demonstrate against the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the harsh restrictions placed on religious freedom, and was arrested for the first time. Under Chinese law she was too young to be tried. Nevertheless, she was detained for 15 days.

Buddhist practice lies at the very heart of the Tibetan identity; and so monks and nuns have been the victims of particularly
brutal treatment. More than 6,000 monasteries and temples were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976); the
few that remain are monitored closely by police and political cadres, and religious activities severely curtailed. In Lhasa, the
capital of Tibet, and the surrounding region great temples like the treasured Jokhang are now little more than stage dressing,
the
ancient rituals reduced to a sham for the entertainment of tourists.

A traditional way to express religious devotion is to circumambulate the Jokhang temple. For many years pilgrims have
travelled
to Lhasa to inch their way around the great temple, often measuring the distance a body length at a time with their
prostrations. To walk in a clockwise direction around the Jokhang is a time-honoured daily prayer ritual for many, a way of
anchoring their lives¹. More recently, monks and nuns have used this ancient practice to signal their resistance to the
systematic attack on the Tibetan way of life and their resentment of the alien culture being imposed in its place.

In August 1990, at the age of 13, Ngawang Sangdrol was arrested again under circumstances similar to her first arrest. Still
too
young to be tried, this time she was held for nine months. In many parts of the world, children face particularly brutal treatment
in prisons; and there have been serious allegations of such abuse by Chinese authorities in Tibet².

Drapchi

At the age of 15 Ngawang was arrested again. This time she was charged with 'subversive and separatist' activities. Despite
the
fact that she was still a minor under Chinese law, she was sentenced to three years in the notorious Drapchi prison. This
sentence was soon extended to six years by prison authorities, who accused her of 'spreading counter-revolutionary
propaganda'.

Prisoners of Drapchi have been beaten with belts and bamboo sticks in response to more or less imaginary provocation, such
as not making their beds properly. When Ngawang and several other nuns were forced to stand in the rain, a defiant shout of
'Free Tibet!' resulted in her sentence being extended a further eight years. After a protest in 1996, She was severely tortured
and placed in solitary confinement on near starvation rations for two months.

The brutality of the treatment of nuns in Drapchi prison can scarcely be imagined. A former prisoner, who escaped into
exile
after her release, described what took place in response to a protest by prisoners in 1998,

They beat us so savagely that there was blood everywhere, on the walls and on the floor. It looked like an abattoir. They beat
us with their belts, until their belts broke. Then they used electric batons. Some [of us] had torn ears, others had wounds in
their
heads.³

The refusal of the nuns to sing Chinese patriotic songs and chant communist slogans led to such a frenzy of violence that five of
them, aged from 22 to 28, committed suicide rather than endure any more.

The Sky...

In 1993, a tape recorder was smuggled into Drapchi prison and 14 young nuns, including Ngawang Sangdrol, risked their lives
by singing traditional songs and reciting poems into it. The songs are simple allegorical descriptions of a life of brutal oppression.
They speak of the Chinese occupation of their homeland as a dark cloud passing before the sun. There are many symbolic
references to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which express the hope that he will one day return.

Naturally, the songs are sung in Tibetan, but their real meaning is obvious. The ambient sounds of the prison can be heard in
the
recording; and the cold dampness of the concrete cell can almost be felt. It is a very powerful recording that takes some
courage to listen to. The courage that it took to record the songs is almost beyond the scope of most of us to imagine.

These songs of hope and defiance are available on a CD entitled Seeing nothing but the sky... from Free Tibet Campaign and Snow Lion Publications in the USA. A book and CD-ROM package,
which includes 14 songs recorded in Drapchi prison, is available from Tibet Information Network in the UK.

Whose land is it

On the roof of the world?

It is our homeland;

It is a land of religion;

The ruler of this land is the compassionate Avalokiteshvara⁴;

Under his compassionate and benevolent leadership,

The people of His land love peace;

The people of His land love freedom;

The people of His land love freedom;

May they gain peace and happiness.

... May they gain peace and happiness.

How to Help

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International suggest that
sending letters to the governments of countries holding prisoners of conscience is an effective way to protect them from
mistreatment by local and prison authorities. Writing to our own elected officials is an important way to make sure that the
welfare of political prisoners is not overlooked in international relations. Whoever they are addressed to, letters should always
be polite and business-like.

Supporting the work of humanitarian agencies by becoming a member, or by making a modest donation, is also a good way to
help. It is largely due to the vigilance of such organizations as Tibet Information
Network and International Campaign for Tibet that the stories
of people like Ngawang Sangdrol are heard around the world.