China should answer for the death of a 19-year-old Tibetan monk who was brutally beaten while in police custody, a humanitarian watchdog group claims.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch has called on Chinese authorities to be held accountable in the January death of Tibetan monk Tenzin Nyima, who was initially detained in November 2019 after attending a pro-Tibetan Independence protest outside a government office, officials said.

“Chinese authorities have once again turned arbitrary detention into a death sentence,” the organization’s China director, Sophie Richardson, said in a statement Thursday.

Nyima, who was later released in May, was taken back into Chinese custody in August for purportedly sharing news of his arrest and that of six other Tibetans — including a 16-year-old boy — with contacts in India, as well as online.

Nyima’s relatives were then told to come and get him from the prison in early October, with officials citing a medical condition.

Sources told Human Rights Watch that Nyima could not move or speak due to beatings and malnourishment while in custody, leading to an acute respiratory infection and other injuries.

Nyima was taken to a hospital on Oct. 9, but had already lost consciousness. A hospital report showed he had been listed in critical condition for 10 days prior to even being released to his family, HRW officials said.

Doctors at the hospital discharged Nyima weeks later, declaring his injuries would ultimately prove fatal.

However, he was then admitted on Dec. 1 to a second hospital — while still in a coma –where he was again discharged on medical grounds that his condition was fatal.

He died shortly after at home, HRW officials said.

Trials for Nyima and six other Tibetans were held in November. Four other monks and two local residents — all of whom are between 16 and 23 years old — were sentenced to one to five years in prison in connection to one of the protests and for spreading news about the arrests at the first protest.

Nyima was charged with “incitement to split the country,” but his sentence was ultimately not announced — which HRW officials believe had to do with his medical condition.

“Urgent, grim cases like the imprisonment of the young Tibetans have prompted UN experts to call for a mechanism to monitor and report graves abuses by Chinese authorities,” Richardson said.

“A failure to hold accountable those responsible for Tenzin Nyima’s death enables future appalling violations.”