Phuntsog Gyaltsen, a Tibetan Buddhist monk and prisoner of conscience, is reported to be seriously ill as a result of sustained beatings. According to unofficial sources he suffers from liver and stomach ailments, but is still forced to undergo prison labour. He is serving 12 years’ in Drapchi Prison for participating in a pro-independence demonstration in 1988. According to a separate unofficial report Phuntsog Yangkyi, a 20-year-old Tibetan nun and prisoner of conscience died in a police hospital in Lhasa on 4 June 1994. It is thought she died from injuries reportedly sustained after prison guards badly beat her and other nuns for singing nationalist songs.
