Tag: released

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy welcomes the release of Tibetan writer and teacher Dolma Kyab from prison after completing 10 years and six months. Dolma Kyab was sentenced for writing a book. According to information received by TCHRD, Dolma Kyab received a warm welcome from family, friends and other Tibetans in his hometown of Arig in the…

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Palden Trinley was released after seven years in prison.
Palden Thinley was released after seven years in prison.

A Tibetan monk who was recently released after completing a seven-year prison term is in critical condition following injuries suffered during detention and lack of medical care in prison.

Palden Thinley, 26, was released from Deyang prison on the afternoon of 17 May 2015 in Kardze (Ch: Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province, in the Tibetan province of Kham, according to information received by Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD).
On the day of his release, prison authorities handed over Palden Thinley to County Public Security Bureau (PSB) officers in Kardze apparently to prevent local Tibetans from giving him a hero’s welcome. At around 3 am on 18 May 2015, the Kardze County PSB handed over Thinley to Dhato Township PSB, who in turn secretly summoned his family at night to pick him up.

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Dhondup Wangchen
Dhondup Wangchen

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is pleased to learn that Dhondup Wangchen, the courageous filmmaker of Jigdral (“Leaving Fear Behind”) has been released after serving 6 years in prison.

Dhondup Wangchen was released 5 June 2014 from a prison in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province.

TCHRD hopes for Dhondup Wangchen’s safe return and swift reunion with his wife, Lhamo Tso, and his four children.

Dhondup Wangchen was detained by the Chinese authorities in March 2008 for shooting the 25-minute documentary film called Jigdral. The documentary is based on 35 hours of footage and 108 interviews that Dhondup Wangchen and his assistant, Golog Jigme, conducted over five months in the run-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The film features candid conversations with ordinary Tibetans – monks, nuns, herders, students – in Tibetan areas in Qinghai Province who expressed their views on a wide range of issues such as the Dalai Lama, the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and human rights conditions in Tibet.

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Tashi Rabten aka Theurang
Tashi Rabten aka Theurang

Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) welcomes the release of writer Tashi Rabten, also known as Theurang, who served four years at Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province. He was sentenced on charges of “inciting activities to split the nation” by the Ngaba (Ch: Aba) Intermediate People’s Court on 2 June 2011.

Tashi Rabten was a student at the Northwest Nationalities University in Lanzhou, Gansu Province. He went missing on 26 July 2009, when the university closed for summer vacation. His whereabouts remained unknown until 6 April 2010 when he was traced to a detention center in Ngaba’s Barkham County.

The sentencing of Tashi Rabten violated, among others, article 19 of the United Nation’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which calls for the protection of freedom of expression. China signed the ICCPR in 1998 and since then it has dragged its feet on ratifying the covenant despite numerous recommendations from UN member states during China’s first and second Universal Periodic Review in 2009 and 2013 respectively. 

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Kunga Tsayang acknowledges local Tibetans gathered to receive him in his hometown in Chikdril County.
Kunga Tsayang acknowledges local Tibetans gathered to receive him in his hometown in Chikdril County.

Writer, essayist, blogger, chronicler, environmentalist and amateur photographer Kunga Tsayang has been released after serving almost five years’ of imprisonment for allegedly writing political essays criticizing Chinese policies in Tibet.

According to reliable information received by TCHRD, Kunga Tsayang, who is also a monk from Labrang Tashikyil Monastery and wrote under a pen name “Sun of Snowland” (Tibetan: Gang Nyi) was released at around 8.30 am on 12 January 2014 from a prison in Lanzhou, capital of Gansu Province.

A source with contacts in Tibet told TCHRD that after release, Kunga Tsayang went to Labrang Monastery and from there on 14 January 2014, he returned to his hometown in Chikdril County in Golok (Ch: Guoluo) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province, where a grand ceremony was held to celebrate his release. Local Tibetans, both young and old, came in droves bearing ceremonial scarves, as they burned juniper leaves and scattered ‘windhorse prayer flags’ (Tib: lungta) in the air to celebrate his release.

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Jolep Dawa acknowledges friends and well-wishers on his release from Mianyang Prison
Jolep Dawa acknowledges friends and well-wishers on his release from Mianyang Prison

A prominent Tibetan writer, editor and teacher was released earlier today after the completion of his three-year prison term from Mianyang Prison in Sichuan Province.

According to information received by TCHRD, Jolep Dawa, the founder and editor of a Tibetan language journal called Durab Ki Nga (This Century’s Self) was released at around 9 am on 30 September 2013, after being imprisoned in Mianyang for three years on trumped up charges of “separatism”. At the time of his sentencing, Jolep Dawa was 39 and a father of two.

Jolep Dawa was arrested by state security officers on 1 October 2010 in Chengdu and was detained for a year at Jinchuan County Detention Centre before his sentencing. After his arrest, Chinese police raided the bookstore cum DVD rental store (run by Dawa’s wife Zamlha) and confiscated his personal computer and diary along with some of his writings.

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Lobsang Tenzin
Lobsang Tenzin

Tibet’s longest-serving known political prisoner, Lobsang Tenzin, was released last month after completing his 18-yr term in Chushul Prison in the outskirts of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in Tibet Autonomous Region.

 

Lobsang Tenzin was the longest-serving political prisoner among a new generation of Tibetans born after the 10 March Tibetan uprising in 1959. Lobsang Tenzin was arrested on 5 March 1988 during a demonstration against Chinese rule in Lhasa. He was then about 24 and a student of Tibet University (Lhasa).

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) received the news that, Kelsang Tsultrim, pen name Gyitsang Takmig from Kanlho “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (‘TAP’), Gansu Province, who has been arrested on 27 July 2010 on the ground of “committing political error”, has been released on 15 October 2010.

He composed and distributed VCDs on the history of Tibet and the lack of freedom in Tibet. The VCDs has been widely distributed in many Tibetan areas in Gansu, Qinghai and Sichuan Province.

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) welcomes the news of the release of Jigme of Labrang Monastery on 3 May 2009.

Jigme, a 42-year-old monk was born to a farming family in Lhutang Village, Juicha Township, Sangchu County (Ch: Sangchu Xian) Kanlho “Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture” (‘TAP’) Gansu Province. At the age of 13, he was ordained monk in Labrang Monastery. While in the monastery he mastered Thangka Painting (religious scroll painting), art of making butter sculpture and playing various monastic musical instruments. He once heads the Labrang Monastery’s vocational training centre and was even a vice-chairman of the Democratic Management Committee (DMC) of Labrang Monastery at the time of his arrest.

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The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) is happy to learn the release of Nyima Choedon, 38 years old, from Drapchi Prison. According to latest update from the U.S based Dui Hua Foundation, Nyima has been released on 26 February 2006. TCHRD has long campaigned for the release of Jigme Tenzin Nyima a.k.a Bangri Chogtrul Rinpoche and Nyima Chodon, a couple running an orphanage in Lhasa, who were wrongly charged for “splitist” activities and convicted in September 2000 to ten years prison term and life sentence respectively. Nyima received sentence reduction on few occasions where as Jigme received a year reduction and is likely to be released on 30 July 2021.

With the release of Nyima Choedon, TCHRD hopes that her husband Jigme Tenzin Nyima would also be released unconditionally soon. Jigme is currently serving his term at the newly operated Chushur Prison in Chushul (Chin: Qushui) County near Nyethang (Chin: Nidang), Lhasa, along a host of other long term serving Tibetan political prisoners. TCHRD requests the international community to maintain pressure on the government of People’s Republic of China to release all the Tibetan political prisoners. 

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