Ani Pachen, a prominent figure in the Tibetan freedom struggle, has died in Dharamsala, the seat of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile in India. She was 69.
Although as a young woman she yearned to become a nun, Ani Pachen's life was swept up in the fight against the Chinese invasion
of Tibet.
When her father died in 1958 she took over the leadership of his resistance group and led 600 men into the mountains to fight the Chinese.
The rebellion exploded into a fully fledged uprising in Lhasa in 1959, but was crushed by the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
Ani Pachen was arrested in 1960 while trying to flee to India with her family and spent the next 21 years in jail.
In 1965, she was moved to Lhasa's Drapchi Prison and endured years of forced labour.
She was released from prison in 1981 and after joining demonstrations against Chinese rule escaped to India and settled in Dharamsala.
