The Dalai Lama is obviously often revered as a wise man of peace. If one hears him talk this seems rather obvious. However I have heard it said that when the Dalai Lama still were in Tibet before the Chinese came, it was actually a theocratic regime where the rulling religious class severely mistreated the population. Accusations of torture, starvation and gauging eyes have been made by people like Christopher Hitchens (who has an obvious anti religious sentiment which might influence what he says).

My question is, how did the religious class treat the Tibetan people before China? How common were these practices if there is any truth to them and what would a citizin of Tibet have to 'do' to suffer such a fate?