[TEXT: Kusho Golok Jigme is a Buddhist monk and filmmaker documenting the human rights of the Tibetan people.]
[TEXT: After making the film Leaving Fear Behind with Dhondup Wangchen, he was imprisoned and tortured by the Chinese government.]
From my point of view, since 1959, for nearly six decades,
the religious and political rights of Tibetan people have been grossly violated.
As an individual, I suffered both physical and mental torture while my religious and political rights were denied.
Many of my forefathers were either executed or died in Chinese prisons.
Because of their brutality, where I suffered many hardships at the hands of the Chinese,
we were forced to resist the communist Chinese evil at all cost. [TEXT: Tibetan refugees fleeing, 1959.]
This is how my activism started. They persecuted our people.
I took part in many activities. The first one was around 2008,
the Earth-Mouse Year, when peaceful mass protests broke out throughout Tibet.
Around that time, I assisted in the making of the documentary film Leaving Fear Behind.
So, I was first arrested in 2008.
After the arrest, I was tortured for one month and twenty-one days.
They kept me in a steel chair for one month and twenty-one days.
Both my hands and feet were chained.
Then the worst came. They began to torture me.
They beat me repeatedly and denied me food and sleep.
These mistreatments were still less painful ones.
Sometimes they tie your hands and hang you. Recalling that experience alone sends chills down my spine.
[TEXT: He began his religious training as a child, during a time when Chinese officials banned the practice of Tibetan Buddhism.]
In the future, it is critical that America and other nations continuously strive for religious freedom around the world. [TEXT: Monks rebuilding an attacked Tibetan Buddhist monastery, 1998.]
Unfortunately, these days, human rights and religious freedom are treated as business activities.
Such treatment frustrates me.
Be it America or any other nation, if anyone trades religious freedom, civil rights, or basic human rights for economic gain
and disregards that the people are in great trouble, if it is America, I will lose faith.
[TEXT: The total number of Tibetan deaths due to oppression and execution is unclear. Estimates range from 200,000 to over 1.2 million people.]
In this world, there are about 7 billion people.
Out of that total population, a great majority of them are believers.
With the help of religious teachings, they solve many of our psychological problems.
Preventing an individual from practicing his or her faith by force, stripping that person of his or her religious freedom,
whether by a government or by any individual or through financial means,
such an action is going to a have a great impact on that individual's mental well-being.
If someone's mental state is affected, he or she may not be able to function as a normal human being.
Creating such a condition in an individual is a gross violation of an individual's basic human rights.
Therefore, every person must have freedom of belief and worship.
[TEXT: Though Kusho Golok Jigme escaped China in 2014, millions of Tibetan Buddhists continue to face oppression by the Chinese government.]
[TEXT: For more on the U.S. commitment to religious freedom, visit share.america.gov]
[TEXT: Produced by the U.S. Department of State]