BHUTAN WATCH
SQUEEZED between India and Tibet, the tiny
K
ingdom of Bhutan portrays itself as an enlightened land promoting “gross national happiness” and as a result has enjoyed millions of euros in financial support from the EU.
But on 16 April the bubble burst when the UN took the unusual step of calling Bhutan to account, asking its king to release 32 men jailed between 1990 and 2008, serving sentences from 34 years to life in dire conditions.
They have inadequate food, clothing, water, warmth and medical care, and have had no contact with their families or the outside world since the day they were detained. Considered “political prisoners”, they were convicted via an extraordinarily vague definition of treason and were denied fair trials, according to the UN. At least 19 of them were “severely tortured”, both to extract confessions and as punishment.