Her slogans: “Return His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet” and “We Need Freedom”
Name: Rinchen Kyi
Age: 33
Sex: Female
Profession: Housewife
Date of Self-immolation: 4 March 2012 around 6:30 am (local time)
Location: In the vicinity of K
irti Monastery, Ngaba town, Amdo, Northeastern Tibet
Current whereabouts/wellbeing: Deceased
Mother of four, Rinchen, died after setting her body on fire near a military camp close to Kirti Monastery. According to monks from Kirti Monastery’s Dharamshala branch, as she set herself ablaze Rinchen shouted “Return His Holiness to Tibet” and “We Need Freedom.” She committed her self-immolation protest in front of a special security office outside the main entrance to Kirti Monastery. She passed away immediately, according to Kirti Monastery in Dharamshala. Her eldest child was 13 while the youngest was a few months old. The four children became orphans as their father had passed away a year before. Rinchen’s self-immolation protest came only days ahead of the all-important 10 March 1959 Tibetan National Uprising Day and the first anniversary of the 16 March self-immolation of Kirti monk Phuntsok — the action which ignited the ongoing mounting wave of self-immolations in Tibet.