81岁，被判刑7年的西藏传统印刷师Paljor Norbu，获国际出版自由奖

81岁，被判刑7年的西藏传统印刷师Paljor Norbu，获国际出版自由奖

一位藏人，在去年，西藏历史上将铭志不忘的2008年，被中国政府指控涉嫌印刷“违禁材料”，从位于拉萨帕廓一带的家中抓走，这天是10月31日，已经寒冷的冬日；数日后，他被秘密判刑7年。当时，他已是81岁高龄的老人。他的名字是Paljor Norbu（中文写为“班觉诺布”）。

近日，驻纽约的美国出版协会决定向这位老人颁发“杰瑞·雷柏国际出版自由奖”，并定于4月28日在纽约自然历史博物馆召开的国际笔会大会上颁奖。

驻纽约的人权观察曾发表新闻声明，批评中国政府没有对班觉诺布的家人说明拘捕原因和审判日期；没有透露当时被关押的地点；没有给予聘请律师的权利；这些行为都严重违背了国际人权公约和中华人民共和国有关宪法规定。人权观察呼吁国际社会抗议中国政府对81岁的班觉诺布判刑，要求中国政府释放他。

班觉诺布被捕之前在拉萨帕廓街经营一家印刷厂，主要为西藏寺院印制佛教经典著作，以及经幡、传统文化书刊等，但目前印刷厂已被关闭。

而今年，此时，班觉诺布，82岁的老人，仍在狱中！一个对八旬老人下手的政权，古今中外，叹为观止！

附1：

Agam's Gecko, December 07, 2008
CHINESE RESPECT FOR ELDERS?

http://lovetibet.ti-da.net/e2456804.html

中國人敬老尊賢？

（台湾悬钩子译自阿甘壁虎部落格）

不管別人怎麼告訴你中國儒家對老年人的尊敬，共產黨根本不信這一套。畢竟，中國「永遠不變」的執政黨，在早期就費了大力消滅儒家的價值，而顯然自那時候到現在，其思考方式沒有太大改變。

上個月，「國際聲援西藏運動」報導了一位拉薩的八十一歲傳統印經師被關押了，罪名是印製「違禁材料」。聖城的著名文化人，班覺諾布（Paljor Norbu），在十月三十一日被逮捕了。

現在，人權觀察組織證實了班覺諾布被秘密地判處了七年有期徒刑，而且當局違法地拒絕通知他的家屬有關於他被關押，以及他的罪名等等消息。這場秘密的審判是在十一月舉行的，而他的家人只有在他被判刑以後，才被告訴該事實。班覺諾布目前的行踪仍然沒有人知道。

「諾布出身於印經師世家，家族代代以印製佛經為業，他也是國際有名的印刷大師。他在工坊中所使用的是現代與傳統的木塊印刷技術，而他的工坊也僱用好幾十位工人。除了宗教經文外，他的工坊還印製經幡、民俗冊子、書籍、傳單與傳統的文學。」

「在諾布被逮捕後，警察關閉了他的店，在店門口貼上正式關門的通知，而且禁止他的員工回來工作。警察還沒收了店裏面的書籍與木塊。」

人權觀察組織特別提起，班覺諾布連中國刑法程序裏「保障」的基本權利都沒有。當局拒絕通知他的家人他被逮捕，拒絕在審判之前或之後透露他被關押的地點，拒絕讓他自行選擇辯護律師，拒絕透露給外界知道他的判決內容，中國的司法系統再次證明了「法治」在中國根本是悲哀的迷思。

中國政府對全世界說謊，說他們正在「保護與促進」圖博文化。如果他們說的是真的話，班覺諾布應該受到文化大師的表揚，因為他保存了圖博傳統的印刷藝術。相反的，他現在正在某個不知道在哪裏的中國地牢裏形銷骨毀，而且刑期是七年（如果他能夠撐到那麼久的話）。可恥！人權觀察組織呼籲世界所有文明的國家強烈抗議這位偉大藏人的被非法監禁，並且要求他立即除罪，以及立即釋放。

我不得不想起另外一個不同的佛國裏，另一位八十一歲的老人，也正在其人民的心念之中。人已經活得那麼高壽，外界必須顧念其健康情形對他們多加體貼。今日每個泰國人的心都繫在他們的國王身上，祈禱與祝願著他們的國王早日從小病康復。同時，在共產黨佔領的圖博，一個同樣歲數的男人，被丟進一個黑暗、不健康的洞裏，就因為他一生偉大的工藝成就。

中國人民需要對某些事情感到噁心，這些事情都比起法國總統昨天跟達賴喇嘛見面所引起的「受到傷害的感情」更加重要。中國人民該醒醒了吧？



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Human Rights Watch

China: Free Prominent Tibetan Culture Figure-- Nations Should Protest 7-Year Sentence for 81-Year-Old Printer
December 5, 2008

中國：請釋放著名的圖博文化人物－－各國應該抗議八十一歲印刷師被處以七年徒刑

（台湾悬钩子译）

（2008年12月5日紐約）／國際社會應該抗議八十一歲的圖博傳統印經師，班覺諾布的囚禁與秘密審判，並且致力讓他立即獲得開釋，與無條件釋放，人權觀察今日說。

諾布，中文的名字是班覺諾布，是2008年10月31日被警方從拉薩的家中帶走的，他們懷疑他印製了「違禁材料」，包括被禁的雪山獅子旗。在他被關押的期間，司法當局拒絕通知他的家屬他被拘留，或者透露他的罪名。他在十一月被秘密地審判，並且被判以七年有期徒刑。一封通知他家人他被判刑的公文，被手交到他們手上。目前他被監禁的地點沒有人知道。

「只要是有關於圖博的任何材料，沒有中國共產黨明文認可的，都是『違禁材料』，」蘇菲‧理查森(Sophie Richardson)，人權觀察亞洲分部主任說。「但沒有人應該為了印製經幡、書籍、圖片就被囚禁，就因為政府想要壓抑那些思想－－這就是為什麼言論自由是一項基本人權。」

雖然當局沒有把判決的內容公諸於市，根據警方一開始對於諾布的指控，以及刑期的長度，可以判斷他是因為「煽動分裂主義」而被審判（刑法第103條）。這項定義模糊的罪名，已經重覆地被用來噤聲藏人，因為他們抵抗著中國法律對於他們言論自由的種種制約與往往不合理的限制。

諾布出身於印經師世家，家族代代以印製佛經為業，他也是國際有名的印刷大師。他在工坊中所使用的是現代與傳統的木塊印刷技術，而他的工坊也僱用好幾十位工人。除了宗教經文外，他的工坊還印製經幡、民俗冊子、書籍、傳單與傳統的文學。

在諾布被逮捕後，警察關閉了他的店，在店門口貼上正式關門的通知，而且禁止他的員工回來工作。警察還沒收了店裏面的書籍與木塊。

「中國政府不應該迫害班覺諾布，而是應該讚揚他對於歷史與文化保存的貢獻，」理查森說。

人權觀察說諾布甚至連中國刑法程序裏應該提供的最基本權利都沒有。違反之處包括：未能通知他的家人他被正式逮捕，和審判日期；拒絕透露他在那裏被羈押；拒絕允許他自選律師為他在法庭上辯護；未能公布完整判決內容；以及拒絕通知他的家人他目前的行踪與他將來服刑的處所。

人權觀察說該組織最近幾週觀察到，好幾件與言論自由有關的逮捕與判刑案例，顯示了藏人在2008年3月抗議之後，中國當局所威脅的鎮壓正在延伸到那些參與示威的人之外的其他人頭上。其他最近的案子包括：

久美嘉措，一位拉卜愣寺的高僧，他是在11月4日被再度逮捕了，在他描述他三月在蘭州關押期間如何被警方刑求之後。

龍真旺姆，四川紅原縣司法局的僱員，在11月3日被判刑五年，因為她告訴國外的親戚圖博的情勢。

當知項欠，於三月時在青海省同德縣被關押，因為他拍攝了藏區秘密的紀錄片。他現在被關在西寧的二十里鋪看守所。

「中國政府幾乎肯定地會說，對班覺諾布的判罪是『依據法律』」理查森說，「但，根據定義，那些法律限制了言論自由；而一直要到中國政府將其法律改變至符合國際人權標準為止，我們未來還是會一直看到如同諾布一樣的溫和的批評者因為被指控涉及『分裂主義』而被囚禁。」

附2：

Tibetan publisher to receive 'International Freedom to Publish' Award
Phayul[Friday, April 17, 2009 14:52]


Paljor Norbu/File photoDharamsala, April 17: Paljor Norbu, an 81-year old Tibetan printer and publisher, who is currently in Chinese custody in Tibet, has been selected as the 2009 recipient of the Jeri Laber International Freedom to Publish Award.

Paljor Norbu, who is currently in custody in Tibet, is being recognized for his commitment to Tibetan culture and publishing in the face of great political obstacles and personal peril over the past half century, the International Freedom to Publish Committee (IFTPC) of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) announced Thursday.

The annual award for Paljor Norbu will be officially presented on April 28 at the PEN Annual Gala at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

On 31 October last year, six months after major anti-Chinese unrest in the Tibetan capital, Paljor Norbu, a descendant of a family with a long history of printing and publishing Buddhist texts for monasteries, was taken by the police from his home in Lhasa for the fourth time in his long career. He was arrested for allegedly printing “prohibited material,” including the banned Tibetan National flag. Paljor was later tried in secret in November and was sentenced to seven years in prison. His current whereabouts are unknown to his family and friends.

“China’s implacable efforts to subjugate a country, constrain a culture, and subvert freedom of expression are vividly illustrated by the prosecution of Paljor Norbu, who has for seven decades dedicated himself to the preservation of Tibetan culture through his work as a master printer,” said Hal Fessenden, chair of the IFTPC, in announcing the award.

“The IFTPC deplores the violation of China’s own laws in Paljor Norbu’s case – the undefined charges, lack of counsel, secret sentencing, and the refusal to inform the family of his current whereabouts. We join the international community in saluting Paljor Norbu’s determination to protect an endangered culture through his commitment to the written and printed word and call for his exoneration and immediate release.”

The International Freedom to Publish Award recognizes a book publisher outside the United States that has demonstrated courage and fortitude in the face of political persecution and restrictions on freedom of expression. The award is named in honor of Jeri Laber, one of the founding members of the IFTPC and the committee’s professional adviser for the past twenty-five years.

Paljor Norbu is an eighty-one-year-old Tibetan printer and publisher from Lhasa. Although not a writer himself, he has played a crucial role in the preservation of traditional Tibetan publishing techniques and popular religious writings. A descendant of a family with a long history of printing and publishing Buddhist texts for monasteries, Paljor Norbu is renowned as a master printer, widely respected in Lhasa. He uses traditional woodblock printing techniques in his workshop, which employs several dozen workers. In addition to religious texts, the shop prints books, prayer flags, paper rolls for prayer wheels, traditional almanacs, ritual texts, and other items.

One of a tiny group of specialist traditional printers, Paljor Norbu was born in Mongka kyang, in Nyemo Valley, a village southwest of Lhasa, and became an apprentice printer at age eleven. As an adult, in addition to his regular work as a printer in Lhasa for the Tibetan government, he worked with several prominent monasteries to print texts from wooden blocks, and supervised the printing of one set of the 224 volumes of the famous Narthang Tengyur, one of the main editions of the commentaries on the Buddhist canon. He was thirty-one years old in 1959 when a major uprising against Chinese rule occurred. As a secretary of the printers’ guild working under the Tibetan government’s supervision, he was considered a “rebellious person” and put in jail for some period of time. In the sixties and seventies, the Cultural Revolution brought an assault on all traditional and cultural emblems of Tibetan civilization, including religious artifacts and religious texts. Woodblocks were burned, and the printing of anything other than strictly political texts was forbidden. In spite of this, wood-carvers secretly carved and hid a number of blocks. After Mao’s death, in 1976, Paljor Norbu was able to resume his work.

In 1987 the situation in Tibet again deteriorated after a number of demonstrations by Tibetans in Lhasa against Chinese rule. Paljor Norbu was detained twice in the early 1990s on suspicion of supporting the protests or producing illicit literature, but he was released without charge each time.

On October 31, 2008, six months after major anti-Chinese unrest in the Tibetan capital, Paljor Norbu was taken by the police from his home in Lhasa for the fourth time. The arrest took place in the middle of the night, and his family was not told where he was being taken. His shop was closed and his employees were told not to return. Since his detention, the Chinese authorities have not informed his relatives where he is being held, when he was tried, or what charges were levied against him. He is believed to have been accused of printing “prohibited materials,” probably referring to prayers for the Dalai Lama or copies of the Tibetan national flag, which are banned in China. He was tried in secret in November and according to unofficial reports from Lhasa was sentenced to seven years in prison. No information about his health or whereabouts have been provided by the authorities, and his condition since arrest is unknown.

The details of the charges and the verdict have not been made public, but the nature of the initial accusations and the length of the sentence suggest that he was tried on charges of “inciting separatism” (Article 103 of the Criminal Law). This vaguely defined crime has been used repeatedly to silence Tibetans resisting the tight and often arbitrary limits imposed on their freedom of expression by Chinese law. Paljor Norbu’s family has a long history of experiencing such limits: two of his children have already served three years in jail each for nonviolent actions considered to be political and criminal by the state, one for teaching children a forbidden song in 1989, and the other for helping the Karmapa, a high lama, to escape to India in 1999.