Tibetans deported from Nepal face torture by Chinese authorities: US State

Tibetan refugees deported by Nepal for illegally entering its territory suffer torture at the hands of the Chinese authorities, the US State Department said Thursday.

"Tibetans repatriated from Nepal reportedly suffered torture, including electric shocks, exposure to cold and severe beatings, and were forced to perform heavy physical labor," the report said, adding that the Chinese government's human rights record "remained poor and worsened in some areas".

The report further said that China also imposed "tight government controls" on Tibetans, who faced restrictions on practicing their religion and severe repercussions if they tried to escape to Nepal.

In the past two months, 36 Tibetans have been arrested while sneaking into Nepali territory through the open Tibet-Nepal border in Dolakha district.

Following their arrest, the border police have handed them over to the Immigration Department in Kathmandu.

The Tibet asylum-seekers face either deportation to Tibet, imprisonment in the country or are handed over to United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).

In July 1, 2003, the US blocked Nepalese garment exports after Nepal deported 18 Tibetan asylum-seekers to China in May that year. The US also lodged a protest with the Nepal's ambassador to US over the incident.

According to independent estimates, on average 2,500 Tibetans flee to India via Nepal each year to meet their Tibetan spiritual Guru Dalai Lama who heads a Tibetan government in exile in India's hill station Dharmashala.

Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans who began arriving in large numbers after the Dalai Lama fled Tibet following a failed uprising in 1959.

Following pressure from Beijing, Nepal has tightened security along its border with Chinese autonomous region Tibet in an attempt to prevent influx of Tibetans in Nepal.

Angry with the Tibetan exiles continuing with their anti-China protests in Nepal, the government had last year begun investigating the cases of Tibetans living in Nepal and said the ones without proper documents will be deported.

The government has been saying that it will not allow its territory to be used for anti-China activity.

Nepal supports 'One China' principle according to which Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable part of China. Nepalnews.com