Tibetan Monks\' Self Immolation Nears 100

A Tibetan man doused himself with gasoline and set his body alight on Wednesday in Katmandu, the capital of Nepal, Jim Yardley wrote in The New York Times.

This incident takes the number of self immolations by Tibetan exiles protesting China’s rule in their home country just one shy of 100. “The flames of fire raging in Tibet have consumed the lives of 98 Tibetans,” a white paper published last month by the Tibetan Policy Institute said.

The white paper lists all of the first 98 who have set themselves on fire, including their names, parents names and “Aspirations/slogans.” Boys as young as 15 year have killed themselves in the recent pro-Tibet campaign, as well as several women, including a “mother of four,” the paper said.

Advocacy group Sve Tibet reported another self immolation by a Tibetan exile in Dharamsala, Himachal Pardesh, the home of the Tibetan government in exile later in January, taking the number documented since February 2009 to 99.

Read the full white paper.