Lobsang Dorjee, 36, a Tibetan monk from Kirti monastery in Ngaba County in the Sichuan Province of occupied Tibet’s Amdo region, was sentenced to three years in jail by the Chinese authorities on September 3.
Dorjee was detained in the middle of the night by police in July 2018, and then isolated from communication until now, according to Kanyag Tsering, a monk from the Dharamshala-based Kirti Monastery. It is reported earlier than he had been detained for being in contact with Tibetans outside Tibet, but the exact reason for his conviction remains unknown. It is considered uncommon for someone to be sentenced to three years on the charge of “negligent disclosure of State secrets” under Chinese Criminal Law.
Dorjee is the son of Mr Sangri from Chukle Gongma pastoral community in the Ngaba region. At Kirti Monastery, he was decreed a monk at a very young age. He previously served two years’ sentence after being arrested in 2008.
The Ngaba region has been a centre of unrest and dissention against China’s oppressive rule in Tibet and has seen many of the self-immolations that have taken place since 2009.
Map showing the location of Ngaba county in China’s Sichuan province.
The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) said it believes that Lobsang Dorjee’s unjust imprisonment is the result of ongoing systematic persecution of Tibetans for their political and religious beliefs. TCHRD further demanded the immediate release of the monk and all other Tibetan political prisoners, calling on the Chinese government to “respect and guarantee the basic human rights enshrined in the national law and the international human rights law”.
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