20. Tenzin Choedon

tenzinchoedonHer slogans were: for the return of Tibet’s leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, from exile and freedom in Tibet

Name: Tenzin Choedon

Age: 18

Sex: Female

Profession: Nun at Mamae Dechen Choekhorling Nunnery in Ngaba

Date of Self-immolation: 11 February 2012 at 6 pm (local time)

Location: Sumdo Bridge, Ngaba, Amdo Northeastern Tibet

Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased, 13 February

When Tenzin Choedon self-immolated in the early evening of 11 February 2012 she chose the same location for her action as nun Tenzin Wangmo: the Sumdo Bridge area below their nunnery. Eyewitnesses reported that Chinese security personnel immediately drove her away towards Barkham. Reports on China’s official State media said that she died on the journey to hospital. However, in a release the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile based in Dharamshala said Tenzin Choedon passed away at a Chinese military hospital in Barkham in the morning of 13 February. It further said that Tenzin Choedon’s father had been told that her body would not be handed back to the family for the last rites. In the wake of this second self-immolation by a nun in the vicinity of Ngaba town, the PRC’s armed forces surrounded their nunnery, Mamae Dechen Choekhorling and sealed it off. Tenzin Choedon was originally from Raruwa Village in Ngaba County.

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