Click to expand Image Top row: Lok Bahadur Ghaley; Rinzin Wangdi; Chandra Raj Rai; Kumar Gautam.Bottom row: San Man Gurung; Birkha Bdr Chhetri; Omnath Adhikari; Chaturman Tamang. © Private The recent death of Sha Bahadur Gurung, one of Bhutan’s longest serving political prisoners, is a tragic reminder of the injustice and needless suffering endured by alleged government critics in Bhutan’s grim prisons. Gurung, 65, was arrested in 1990 while he was a member of the Royal Bhutan Army and accused of attending protests demanding rights for his minority Nepali-speaking community. He was allegedly tortured, denied proper legal counsel, and sentenced to life imprisonment with no possibility of parole. He spent the last 35 years of his life in the notoriously harsh Rabuna military prison.Gurung died on December 15, reportedly while undergoing treatment for an eye condition. The Bhutanese government should fully account for the circumstances of his death, his treatment in prison, and the justification for his prolonged incarceration. That’s unlikely to happen. Despite promoting itself as the inventor of “Gross National Happiness,” Bhutan’s secretive government refuses to even discuss its political prisoners.There are currently 30 known political prisoners in the country. Seven of them, like Gurung, were soldiers from the Nepali-speaking community and were arrested around 1990 for allegedly supporting protests. They have been locked up in Rabuna ever since. Another 21 are being in held in Chemgang prison near the capital, Thimphu, in a special wing reserved for “anti-nationals.” Most of these prisoners are serving life sentences and some have been detained for decades.. The prisoners are being kept in dire conditions, with scant rations and insufficient clothes or bedding for Bhutan’s cold winters. Human Rights Watch was told that all of the prisoners are in poor health and several are severely ill. Simple medicines, such as paracetamol, are only provided to those who can pay for it.Under Bhutanese law, only King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck can commute life sentences and free these men. His office has told political prisoners’ families not to bother applying for clemency. He should reconsider, show compassion, and end this unjust suffering.