Ngawang Gyaltsen, a Tibetan political prisoner, was released from prison on March 7 after completing his three year sentence. He was a monk at Shag Rongpo Gaden Dargyaling Monastery in Nagchu County, where he had enrolled as a child. He was a well-known thangka artist and proficient at ritual dance. He was arrested in February 2015 and held in secret, no information about his trial or whereabouts was released at the time. His release was also kept a secret and no information is currently available about how he has fared during his time in prison, or since.
His arrest dates back to his opposition to a re-education campaign at his monastery in 2010, Ngwang Gyaltsen opposed this campaign which required him to denounce HH the Dalai Lama and other senior monks. He was subsequently repeatedly harassed to the point where he, along with several other monks, left the monastery, then kept under surveillance and prevented from travelling or meeting friends or family without government permission.
United Kingdom based Free Tibet campaigned for Ngawang Gyaltsen’s release from prison, making him part of its Robed Resisters campaign. The campaign ran between 2015 and 2017 and highlighted the role that Tibetan monks and nuns play in resisting Chinese rule and human rights abuses, and the risks that they face by carrying out acts of resistance.
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