List of current prisoners |
Life sentence on 26 June 2010
A wealthy Tibetan member of the Communist Party was given a life sentence in secret trial on unspecified charges. It is believed he was sentenced for funding exiled religious leaders.
Arrested March 2008
Update: Sentenced to six years in December 2009
Update: transferred to Xichuan Labour Camp on 6 April 2010
Dhondup Wangchen was arrested following the completion of the documentary film ‘Leaving Fear Behind’ in March 2008. The film was shot inside Tibet and smuggled out at great risk. He was denied his choice of legal representation and was sentenced to six years after being tried for the serious crime of 'inciting separatism'.
Arrested May 2008
Update: Sentenced to eight and a half years in December 2009
Phurbu Rinpoche 52 and a revered lama, received an eight and a half year sentence from the Dartsedo People’s Court (Sichuan Province) for possession of weapons and occupying state land. His lawyers claim that his arrest is unlawful, the evidence against him unsound and that he has been tortured. Free Tibet believes that Phurbu Rinpoche was detained following peaceful demonstrations by nuns from Pangrina nunnery, where he is abbot, in order to deter local Tibetans from further protests.
Arrested spring 2008
After sharing details of the desperate situation she witnessed, Norzin Wangmo from Ngaba County was, after seven months of detention, sentenced on 3 November 2008 to five years imprisonment.
Arrested October 2008
Arrested March 14 2008
Sentenced to fifteen months of 're-education through labour' in January 2010
Released February 2011
A popular Tibetan singer, Tashi Dhondup was detained on 3 December 2009 for releasing an album of songs containing what the Chinese authorities deemed to be politically 'subversive' content.
It is the second time the 30-year-old has been arrested for his music.
Sentenced in 2009
Trek guide and mountain rescue worker Gonpo Tsering was sentenced to three years imprisonment for sending texts and emails about protests in Lhasa in March 2008.
Arrested in January 2010 (Karma, above)
UPDATE: Sentenced to 15 years in June 2010
Arrested in August 2009 (Rinchen & Chime)
The acclaimed environmentalist and cultural preservationist Karma Samdrup was arrested in January 2010 on charges of taking relics from tombs, which date back to 1998. It has been suggested that the charges have been reinstated after his brothers Rinchen Samdrup and Chime Namgyal accused officials of poaching endangered wildlife from Eastern Tibet.
Arrested August 2007
Four men (Runggye Adak, Adak Lopoe, Kunkyen and Lothok) were sentenced to between 3 and 10 years following Runggye Adak’s public call for the return of the Dalai Lama at a horse race festival in Lithang in August 2007.Kunkhyen, a Tibetan art teacher was sentenced to nine years on charges of "carrying out splittist activities" and a fourth Tibetan, Jarib Lothok, received a three-year sentence for allegedly helping to send photos of the aftermath of the protest abroad.
More information on Adak Lopoe here
More information on Kunkyen & Lothok here
Sentenced to fifteen years in November 2009
The founder of a website celebrating Tibetan culture and literature, Kunchok Tsephel was arrested in February 2009 and sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment on charges relating to 'divulging state secrets' in November 2009. He had also been detained and tortured in 1995.
Arrested March 2005
Dolma Gyab, a Tibetan history school teacher was sentenced to ten years imprisonment on charges that appear to be espionage.
Arrested 1999
Bangri Tsamtrul Rinpoche, the founder of the Gyatso children's home and school, is serving life imprisonment for charges of 'attempting to split the country'.
His wife Nyima Choedron was released February 2006
Arrested April 2002
Tenzin Deleg Rinpoche, one of the most important religious leaders in Tibet, is in prison for a crime he did not commit. Initially sentenced to death in 2002, China commuted his sentence to life imprisonment in January 2005 following an intense international campaign.
Arrested 1995, aged 6
Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was abducted in 1995 by the Chinese authorities, at the age of six. His abduction came just days after he had been recognised by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama. Gedhun has not been seen since and the Chinese Government has installed a boy of its own choosing as the Panchen Lama.
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