PHOTO ESSAY: Tibetans depart Nepal, a former safe haven transformed under Chinese pressure

DHARAMSHALA, India (AP) — Sonam Tashi refuses to let his son inherit the same fear.

Once active in the Free Tibet movement in Kathmandu, he found himself silenced. Unable to secure identity papers for his son, he left for the Tibetan capital in exile in India this year where his son will begin an education he can't have at home.

There he joined a rare protest in a city so reminiscent of what Kathmandu once was — where monks walk freely and the Dalai Lama’s portrait is not a risk.

An investigation by The Associated Press found that much of the Chinese technology used to surveil Tibetans in Nepal originally came from American companies. Despite warnings that Chinese firms were copying or outright stealing their designs, these firms built, customized, and expanded China’s surveillance apparatus over the past quarter-century.

Born in Nepal to Tibetan refugees, Tashi spent years on the frontlines of protest, a regular presence outside the Chinese embassy in Kathmandu. In the early days, arrests were brief — just a day or two — but by 2015, police were holding protesters for weeks. The crowds thinned. Eventually, Tashi was one of the last still showing up.

Surveillance trailed them beyond the protests.

Police began showing up hours before any gathering could start, demanding answers to questions they shouldn’t have known to ask: What are you doing tomorrow? Where are you going?

Cameras multiplied — around Tibetan settlements, in temples, even near private homes. In Boudha, the comfort of lingering beneath the stupa’s all-seeing eyes curdled.

Now 49, Tashi is focused on his 10-year-old son. Once an organizer, he’s now just a father trying to get his son out — before the net pulls tighter. On a winding bus ride toward the Indian border, Sonam stared out the window as terraced hills gave way to forest, thinking about what comes next.

“There are cameras everywhere,” he said. “There is no future.”

This surveillance has helped silence Nepal’s once-vibrant “Free Tibet” movement. Thousands of Tibetans once fled to Nepal every year, but last year, the number was down to the single digits, according to Tibetan officials in Nepal.

Across the world, in Washington, D.C., Namkyi’s eyes hold the loneliness that haunts Tibetans in exile.

Arrested at 15 and sentenced to three years in prison for protesting Chinese rule, Namkyi traveled to the U.S. to recount her story of what it means a lose a home.

Dressed in black, with two small pins — Tibetan and American — on her coat, she recounts how under withering surveillance, silence has become survival for Nepal's dwindling Tibetan community.

“They know they are being watched,” she said.

Her eyes shine, not with certainty, but with the fragile hope that being heard might one day matter.

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This is a documentary photo story curated by AP photo editors.

A tear rolls down the cheek of Namkyi, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 an imprisoned for protesting Chinese rule, as she recounts her story during an interview at the Office of Tibet in Washington, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Namkyi, right, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 for protesting Chinese rule, watches as Tsultrim Gyatso, China Director at Office of Tibet, untangles the Tibetan flag over the office entrance in Washington, Oct. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Namkyi, right, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 for protesting Chinese rule, shows the route she took when she escaped and crossed into Nepal to Tsejin Khando, with the International Campaign for Tibet, Oct. 8, 2025, at the Office of Tibet in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Namkyi, right, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 for protesting Chinese rule, waits in the office of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, for a meeting with his staff while joined by Tsultrim Gyatso, right, China Director at Office of Tibet, in Washington, Oct. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Namkyi, right, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 for protesting Chinese rule, walks past National Guard troops on patrol with Tsejin Khando, with the International Campaign for Tibet, to a meeting, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Namkyi, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 for protesting Chinese rule, looks out toward the Washington Monument while driving to a meeting, Oct. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Namkyi, a Tibetan former political prisoner who was arrested at 15 and imprisoned for protesting Chinese rule, is photographed at the Office of Tibet, Oct. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Sonam Tashi takes part in a demonstration to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet against the Chinese rule, in New Delhi, India, March 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Tibetan monks are silhouetted as they walk past a mural at the Tsuglakhang temple in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi, right, and his son, Kunga Tenzin, pass photographs of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at the entrance of the Tsuglakhang temple in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

A Tibetan nun cleans copper lamps at Tsuglakhang temple in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi talks on his mobile phone from Tibetan Children's Village school in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

An exiled Tibetan cleans his balcony at Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi and his son, Kunga Tenzin, eat breakfast at a roadside stall in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi, right, and his son, Kunga Tenzin, wait for transportation for Mcleodganj after reaching Dharamshala, India, where Tashi hopes the Tibetan government in exile can help his son access education, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi, right, and his son, Kunga Tenzin, take their luggage from a bus after reaching Dharamshala, India, where Tashi hopes the Tibetan government in exile can help his son access education, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Tibetan flags hang above a street to commemorate the anniversary of the 1959 uprising in Tibet against the Chinese rule, in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Tibetan prayers hang from a footbridge at Majanu ka Tila, an exile Tibetan settlement, in New Delhi, India, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi sits on a bus in New Delhi as it leaves for Dharamshala where he hopes the Tibetan government in exile there can help his son access education, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi and his son, Kunga Tenzin, bottom right, prepare to board their bus to Dharamshala in New Delhi, India, March 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Sonam Tashi takes a walk in a temple at the Tibetan Children's Village school in Mcleodganj near Dharamshala, India, March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch died after severe pneumonia progressed into sepsis, resulting in rapid and overwhelming associated complications, according to a statement released by his family.

Dakota Hunter, vice president of Kyle Busch Companies, said in a news release the family received the medical evaluation on Saturday.

Busch, a two-time NASCAR champion, died at 41 on Thursday, a day after passing out in a Chevrolet simulator.

Sepsis is considered a life-threatening medical emergency that occurs when the body has an extreme, overactive response to an infection, causing the immune system to damage its own tissues and organs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Typically the immune system releases chemicals to fight off pathogens like bacteria, viruses or fungi, but with sepsis the response goes into overdrive. The results can cause widespread inflammation, form microscopic blood clots and make blood vessels leak.

Busch was thought to have had a sinus cold while racing at Watkins Glen on May 10 and radioed in to his team saying that he needed a “shot” from a doctor after the race.

However, he bounced back to win the Trucks Series race at Dover last weekend, and then he finished 17th in the All-Star race on Sunday.

Busch, who was preparing to race Sunday at the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was testing in the Chevrolet racing simulator in Concord on Wednesday when he became unresponsive and was transported to a hospital in Charlotte, several people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

During the emergency call placed late that afternoon, an unidentified caller calmly told the dispatch: “I’ve got an individual that’s (got) shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he’s going to pass out, and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.”

The caller said Busch was lying on the bathroom floor inside the complex and told dispatch “he is awake,” according to audio provided by the Cabarrus County Sheriff’s Office. The man then gave directions on where emergency responders should go and asked that they turn off any sirens upon arrival.

NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski said he knew Busch wasn’t feeling well recently.

“Yes, but I won’t go into any specifics," Keselowski said. “But then when he ran the Truck race last week, those (thoughts) were honestly kind of erased in my mind.”

Keselowski said running multiple races on the same weekend can be difficult on a driver's health — but most don't want to miss a race for fear of being replaced.

“There’s no shortage of drivers that would love to take my seat or anybody else’s seat if we weren’t feeling well, and I think every driver feels that pressure,” Keselowski said. “All athletes do. It’s not unique to NASCAR in that sense. We’re all thinking to ourselves, ‘I don’t wanna be replaced.’ ... So you try to power through it the best you can."

Busch won 234 races across NASCAR’s top three series over his two-decade career, more than any driver in history.

All 39 drivers in the field for Sunday’s race will race with a black No. 8 decal on their car to honor Busch.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

An in memoriam photo of former driver Kyle Busch is displayed on the video board of the backstretch at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Friday, May 22, 2026, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Matt Kelley)

FILE - Kyle Busch waits for the start of a NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race Saturday, June 19, 2021, in Lebanon, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)