Gyaltsen Drolkar & Namdrol Lhamo speak in London  'We shouted "where you are planting the flag is our land" and "the Chinese flag should not be raised on this ground". As a result, following this protest, we were all severely beaten in the courtyard. For example, Ngawang Sangdrol-la was beaten so severely that she was bleeding from her head, but they continued beating all of us. I have still not fully recovered from the beating that I suffered that day..' -Namdrol Lhamo, 11th March 2006 Read press release from 23rd February 2006

Speech at Westminster Central Hall
Uprising Day, Saturday 11 March 2006(translated from Tibetan)

Namdrol Lhamo: To the assembled audience of Tibet supporters and Tibetans, although I do not have anything exceptional to say I will today relate my experiences of my life from 1992 to 2003; what I have seen and what I have experienced in prison.

I have heard that through history, in 1959 and in the 1970s, many Tibetans have been imprisoned and that some have died or committed suicide. I have seen that there are no human rights in Tibet. As a result I protested in the Barkhor in Lhasa.

The police arrested me for protesting and I was severely beaten. My friends were also beaten, some with sticks. I was then taken to Gutsa Detention Centre where I stayed for 3 months. I was given a six year sentence and imprisoned in Drapchi Prison in Lhasa.

In 1993, in Drapchi Prison, I along with 13 others sang protest songs. The reason for us singing the songs was that although we were allowed prison visits by relatives and family once a month, at these meetings we were not allowed to speak from our hearts and say the things we wanted to say.

We hoped to get the tape recordings of our songs out of prison so that people outside would be able to hear our thoughts. But the prison guards came at night and took the recordings away.

We were arrested and interrogated for a very long time. After the interrogations many of those involved in the protests had their prison sentences extended, the highest by nine years, and myself by six years. In total my prison sentence was now 12 years.

After this the guards were highly suspicious of all those involved. I was severely beaten by three prison guards. There were times when I was unconscious for five or six minutes as a result of the beatings, but even then the guards would laugh and continue their beatings.

In May 1998 the Chinese flag was raised in Drapchi Prison. At the flag raising ceremony, because of the suspicion I spoke of earlier, we weren't allowed to attend the ceremony. But we heard gun-fire, so we ran to our rooms to see what was happening. We could see people had been shot at the ceremony. The people that were shot were non-political prisoners. Because we were in our rooms looking through closed windows we couldn't make our voices heard, so we broke the windows in the cells to shout.

We shouted "where you are planting the flag is our land" and "the Chinese flag should not be raised on this ground". As a result, following this protest, we were all severely beaten in the courtyard. For example, Ngawang Sangdrol-la was beaten so severely that she was bleeding from her head, but they continued beating all of us. I have still not fully recovered from the beating that I suffered that day.

Since that protest all political prisoners involved were confined not let out. Even at meal times the food was brought over to our cells by criminal prisoners, we were not allowed to get it ourselves.

In the summer when it was very hot I was not allowed to remove my thick outer layers of clothing. And in the winter it was so cold that I was freezing all over, my legs were frozen and my legs swelled as a result.

And that was the life I led from the time of the flag protest in 1998 to 2003. I was allowed a maximum of five minutes visit from my relatives in the allotted meeting time.

Additionally, in this period I was never left alone. Every week I was interrogated further.

In 2003 having completed my 12 year sentence I was released and I was told that I would have the same rights as those living outside, within society.

However, contrary to what I had been told, upon my release I had to report to the local police and where ever I went I had to seek the permission of the police to travel. I found that all my rights, my livelihoods and my freedoms had been curtailed.

Because of the difficulties and barriers I faced after my release I fled into exile in India in 2004.

Due to the harshness of the prison sentence and the conditions and the beatings, physically I was lucky to get out alive, though I was severely damaged. Because of the beatings I sustained, I became so weak physically that I was unable to do any physical work and I was unable to return to the life of farming that I had known previously and I found that I could not sustain myself.

Beyond my own expectation, I have managed to end up in a country that has freedoms and rights that everybody can enjoy. During my 12 year prison term there were numerous moments when I thought I would not be able to achieve this.

By being in a free country I have this opportunity to thank you for working for Tibet. Many of my colleagues and friends who were in prison with me have unfortunately not been able to have the same experience.

With my own eyes I have seen the deaths of three of my fellow political prisoners - the three being Ngawang Lochoe, Phuntsog Yangkey and Gyaltsen Kesang.

Having regained my freedom I feel duty bound to speak about the suffering and the deaths of my three fellow prisoners because I do not want anybody, let alone the six million Tibetans, to suffer as I have in my 12 years in prison. So this is the reason why I speak out and the reason why I share my experiences with you.

Many of you have gathered, groups and individuals, on this 10 March commemoration day and I have found out about the work you all do. What you have done in the past, you and Tibet supporters everywhere, has already borne good results in Tibet. From what I have witnessed today and earlier, I am certain that, if you continue the way you have done, we will be able to achieve our aims.

I would like to thank you all for your efforts.

Gyaltsen Drolkar: Firstly I would like to say Tashi Delek to you. My name is Gyaltsen Drolkar and I am from a nomad family in Tibet. In 1988 when the Chinese Government slightly relaxed their religious policies I joined the Garu Nunnery and I was there for 2 years.

During the time of the patriotic education sessions at the nunnery, Chinese soldiers arrested eight of us from the nunnery and a further 18 nuns were expelled. The rest of us were beaten and the soldiers conducted searches of the nunnery.

In 1990 myself and 12 of my colleagues protested in the Norbulingka in Lhasa, shouting slogans such as "independence for Tibet" and "long live His Holiness". During the protest we had no weapons or such instruments on us, only our hands. We protested for about five minutes.

As a result of the protest we were detained and all suffered beatings. All sorts of instruments and methods were used for beating us, including electric prods. In my own case I was tied to a tree with my hands tied behind my back. When I cried out in pain the beatings would get even more severe as a consequence. Sometimes during the beatings I would go through stages where I would lose consciousness for 10 or 15 minutes. The beatings and interrogations would sometimes last for 3 or 4 hours.

After the detention a sentence of four years was passed on me and I was transferred to Drapchi Prison. In Drapchi the life for prisoners was as my friend (Namdrol) already described so I won't relate my similar experiences.

In 1993 I took part in the protest songs and as a result I had my prison sentence extended by eight years. I was also involved in the incidents in 1998 as my friend related before. However, during the 1998 incident, I was taken to a room, the windows and doors were locked, I was beaten by five prison guards and I was struck on the head with a belt buckle. As a consequence of that beating and the blows to my head with the belt buckle I still have not fully recovered my physical well-being. My body turned blue with the bruising from that beating and even after 6 or 7 years my body has still not been able to fully recover.

Whilst I was sustaining these beating and because of the conditions I was living in the prison I never for one moment thought that I would be able to leave the prison alive. But I have and now I am free.

In 2002 just before the completion of my 12 year sentence, I was summoned to the prison office and I was told upon my release that I would not be allowed to relate my experiences in prison to the outside world. But as I am in a democracy and a country with freedoms I am taking this opportunity to share my experiences, because while I have regained my freedom there are many of my colleagues who have not been able to leave prison.

Upon my release from prison I returned to my home, in Meldrogonkar on the outskirts of Lhasa, but I found that my parents had passed away during my time in prison.

I found that although I was out of prison I could not lead a normal life or work to sustain myself within Tibet because of my background. As a result of this I came into exile. For example, whilst in Tibet, even if I went to look for a house or accommodation to rent the landlord would be fearful of the Chinese authorities, which meant they would not rent the house to me. When I went to look for a job I found that people would be unwilling to employ me, again because of the fear they had of the Chinese authorities again because of my background.

I would like to say personally Tashi Delek to all of you gathered here. Because of your past work political prisoners have been released. And until this Tibetan issue is resolved I want to urge you to continue the good work that each and everyone of you have been doing. That is my request.

I want to say thank you and I think that it is my good fortune that I have been able to regain my freedom in order to thank all of you for your actions.

(From Namdrol and Gyaltsen) We want to thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts and we want to wish good health and well-being for the future.

Tibet supporters had the privilege to hear the moving personal testimony of two remarkable Tibetan nuns, Gyaltsen Drolkar and Namdrol Lhamo (two of the 'Drapchi 14' singing nuns) who spent 11 and 12 years each in prison for peaceful protests in Lhasa. They were in the UK for 3 weeks at the joint invitation of Free Tibet Campaign, Students for a Free Tibet, Tibet Society and the Tibet Foundation.

A series of 14 talks was held across the UK, each drawing a large audience. The tour concluded on 11 March when the nuns addressed Uprising Day participants at Westminster Cathedral Hall. During their visit they met the Foreign Select Committee at Portcullis House in London and took part in a flag-raising ceremony with the Mayor of Northampton.

Throughout the tour Gyaltsen and Namdrol talked with quiet simplicity and great openess about their harrowing experiences in prison. Both were arrested in Lhasa (Gyaltsen in 1990 and Namdrol in 1992) for shouting for a free Tibet and expressing their loyalty to the Dalai Lama. Both were taken to Gutsa Detention Centre where they were held for months without charge. They were interrogated every day, beaten and tortured with electric prods. Gyaltsen said, "I was tied to a tree with my hands tied behind my back. When I cried out in pain the beatings would get even more severe... Sometimes during the beatings I would go through stages where I would lose consciousness for 10 or 15 minutes." Later she received a four year sentence and was transferred to Drapchi Prison, where she became friends with Namdrol, who was serving a six year sentence. (Their sentences were later extended for recording songs in prison.)

After their release they were under constant surveillance and jobs and accomodation were impossible to find. Hoping for a new life they escaped from Tibet and were eventually granted asylum in Belgium. Namdrol and Gyaltsen think of themselves as lucky to have survived their ordeal and vowed to continue campaigning for Tibet for the memory of all their fellow prisoners who did not survive.

They both made very direct and passionate appeals to Tibet supporters to continue working for Tibet's freedom struggle. "What you have done in the past, you and Tibet supporters everywhere, has already borne good results in Tibet... I am certain that, if you continue the way you have done, we will be able to achieve our aims."