Tibetan Buddhist monk Kusho Golog Jigme was arrested three times and tortured between 2008 and 2012 for sharing information with the world about the deteriorating state of religious freedom for Tibetans in China.
“Preventing an individual from practicing his or her faith by force, stripping that person of his or her religious freedom,” Golog Jigme said, prevents that person from functioning as a normal human being and that “is a gross violation of an individual’s basic human rights.”
This is part of a series of stories from survivors of religious persecution in recognition of International Religious Freedom Day on October 27.
Religious freedom is a policy priority for the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the State Department’s July ministerial meeting on religious freedom, because it “is a God-given universal right bestowed on all of mankind.”
