"Denounce me": Dalai Lama "From now on, if the Chinese authorities ever force you into denouncing me, do that without any hesitation. Please convey this message to other Tibetans in Tibet as well." Dalai Lama urged his followers in Tibet with these words to denounce him rather than suffer at the hands of the Chinese authorities. He also said he had always felt "deeply saddened and troubled" by reports of Tibetans carrying his picture being subjected to detention, beatings and imprisonment. Pictures of the Dalai Lama are banned in Tibet, and human rights groups have documented numerous instances where people carrying them have been beaten into renouncing loyalty to the exiled leader. "If you were to denounce me, the act would be seen by any sensible man as having been committed under duress, under gunpoint," the Dalai Lama said. Many monasteries in Tibet had been closed by the Chinese after monks refused to denounce the Dalai Lama.