Ngawang Choezom, born in 1973 in Donum, Tibet, was a nun at Chubsang Nunnery. She was arrested on 15 October 1989 for participating in a protest in Lhasa and was subsequently sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. Due to serious illness, she served one year and ten months before being released.

During her detention, she was held in overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, without proper bedding or basic facilities. Following her release, Ngawang Choezom was expelled from her nunnery. Facing continued restrictions and unable to resume her religious life in Tibet, she fled to India in November 1992 to live in freedom and continue her monastic practice.