Chinese language authorities sentenced two Tibetan monks to no less than three years in jail for possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s foremost Buddhist religious chief who has been residing in exile since 1959, RFA has discovered.
RFA reported in December 2021 that Tenzin Dhargye, a monk in his 30s, had been arrested in September 2020, and sources mentioned that a number of different monks had been arrested together with him. RFA has since discovered that Rigtse, whose age is unknown, was amongst them. Tenzin Dhargye bought three years and 6 months; Rigtse was sentenced to 3 years.
Each Monks had been among the many 250 residing on the Barong monastery in Kardze (in Chinese language, Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture’s Sershul (Shiqu) county. They had pictures of the Dalai Lama on their cell telephones and have been in custody for the previous two years, a supply in Tibet, who requested anonymity for safety causes, instructed RFA’s Tibetan Service
“In Might of this yr they each had been convicted of committing an act of ‘separatism’ by possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama,” the supply mentioned.
“They had been each convicted by the Folks’s Courtroom in Sershul county and nobody is aware of how honest the trial was as their households and family members weren’t allowed to see them,” mentioned the supply.
“Tibetans are threatened by the Chinese language authorities so they don’t share or focus on any details about them, so we don’t learn about their well being or which jail they’re detained in.”
Extra details about them is difficult to return by, a Tibetan residing in exile who requested anonymity to talk freely instructed RFA.
“Because of tight restrictions within the area, it’s troublesome to acquire [records on] arrests made by the Chinese language authorities,” the second supply mentioned.
“Since 2021, the Chinese language authorities has been aggressively inspecting each dwelling and threatening Tibetans, telling them that possessing pictures of the Dalai Lama is as felonious as possessing arms and weapons.”
The Dalai Lama is the religious chief of Tibetan Buddhists all over the world, and is a world consultant advocating for the safety of Tibetan tradition, language and historical past.
The Dalai Lama fled Tibet into exile in India within the midst of a failed 1959 Tibetan nationwide rebellion in opposition to China, which despatched troops into the previously unbiased Himalayan nation in 1950.
Shows by Tibetans of the Dalai Lama’s photograph, public celebrations of his birthday, and the sharing of his teachings on cellphones or different social media are sometimes harshly punished.
Chinese language authorities keep a good grip on Tibet and on Tibetan-populated areas of western China, limiting Tibetans’ political actions and peaceable expression of cultural and spiritual identification, and subjecting Tibetans to imprisonment, torture and extrajudicial killings.
Translated by Tenzin Dickyi. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
