From Chinese Prison to Global Advocacy: Former Political Prisoner Namkyi Speaks Out Despite Threats to Family
By Tenzin Chokyi
DHARAMSALA, 18 Feb: “Silence would only prolong the suffering of Tibetan political prisoners,” former political prisoner Namkyi said as she testified at a Tibetan advocacy program hosted by Tibetan Initiative Deutschland, risking potential threats against her family in occupied Tibet.
“I am fully aware that by publicly sharing my testimony, my family and relatives in Tibet may face severe consequences,” Tibet.net, the official webpage of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), quoted Namkyi as saying in its report.
“However, despite these risks, I have chosen to speak out because silence would only prolong the suffering of many Tibetan political prisoners,” the 24-year-old former Tibetan political prisoner added.
Namkyi, who escaped into exile and reached Dharamsala on 28 June 2023 after her release from Chinese prison, has said that she wants “to seek support from the international community and human rights organisations to stand with the Tibetan people enduring hardship under Chinese oppression” during her first foreign visit.
She made these remarks while testifying against human rights violations in occupied Tibet at Kulturzentrum GOROD in Munich, Germany, which more than 80 people attended.
Namkyi arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, on 9 February to participate in the Geneva Summit 2025 and to raise awareness about human rights in Tibet through her testimonies.
Namkyi is part of the Tibetan delegation consisting of representatives from the Central Tibetan Administration, including Dukthen Kyi, the head of the CTA’s advocacy section at the Department of International Relations and Thinlay Chukki, the representative of His Holiness the Dalai Lama at Tibet Bureau, Geneva, aimed at lobbying support for the grave human rights situation in occupied Tibet in the upcoming 58th session of the United Nations Council for Human Rights.
The delegation has reportedly submitted a statement to the UN, voicing concerns over the Medog Dam construction and broader human rights abuses in Tibet.
Earlier in Geneva, Namkyi testified about unjust and arbitrary imprisonment and repression under colonial China at a closed-door meeting with representatives from 16 UN permanent missions, six special rapporteurs, and officials from the High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Namkyi was arrested on 21 October 2015, when she was just 15 years old, for staging a peaceful protest in Ngaba County in the Tibetan Province of Amdo, calling for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama and Kirti Rinpoche to Tibet.
She, along with her cousin sister Tenzin Dolma who was also a participant in the protest, was detained and subjected to harsh interrogation and political re-education sessions.
In 2016, at the age of 16, Namkyi was sentenced to three years in prison by the Chinese government for “inciting separatism,” with their age being falsely reported as 18 to justify the sentence.
Like all Tibetan political prisoners, Namkyi’s family also suffered prolonged restrictions in accessing basic facilities such as government benefits and higher education even after her release.
Namkyi, in her earlier statement in 2024, revealed the prevailing culture of fear and oppression imposed through collective punishment in occupied Tibet, stating, “No matter how much I’m punished by the Chinese authorities, what hurts the most is seeing my family and villagers suffer because of me.”
Following excessive restrictions from the Chinese Government, Namkyi and her aunt escaped occupied Tibet by walking continuously for 10 days, crossing into Nepal and eventually seeking refuge in Dharamsala, India, where she reached on 28 June 2023.
Namkyi is currently studying at the Sherab Gatsel Lobling School, formerly known as the Tibetan Transit School, based in Dharamsala, Himachal Pradesh, and continues her activism for human rights in occupied Tibet.
