Magazine editors arrested

Update 31 October

Joleb Dawa has been sentenced to three years imprisonment.

Update 4 January 2011 According to a local source Jangtse Dhonkho and Buddha were sentenced to four years and Kelsang Jinpa  to three years in prison. It is reported that the writers were sentenced on 30 December 2010, with the defendants, their families and lawyers all being denied the opportunity to speak in court.

In October 2010, three young writers from eastern Tibet were put on trial on charges of ‘inciting splittism’ for articles they published in a popular Tibetan journal, Shar Dungri (Eastern Snow Mountain) in 2008, shortly after the March 2008 protests. The writings of Dhonkho, Boudha and Kelsang Jinpa were the first known articles published on the mass protests in 2008. Following their publication, Shar Dungri was quickly banned by the Chinese administration.

Jangtse Dhonkho, 32, a prize-winning poet and writer was detained from his home on 21 June 2010. He has also established a highly-regarded Tibetan daycare center  in Ngaba County.

- Buddha, 34, from Ngaba county was arrrested on 21 June. He worked as a Tibetan doctor in a village in Ngaba County and later in Ngaba Tibetan Medical Hospital. It is believed he is held in Markham) county in Ngaba Autonomous Prefecture.

- Writer Kelsang Jinpa, 25, was arrested on the charge of separatism on 19 July, 2010. His whereabouts remain unknown.

 
All three men wrote articles also for Shardungri magazine, an out-spoken Tibetan language publication which was banned soon after publishing articles on the 2008 protests.

Joleb Dawa has been detained twice before. In 2007 he was held for a month for his alleged role in leading the burning of animal skins following the Dalai Lama’s call to Tibetans to protect Tibet’s wildlife. He was also detained in March 2008 following protests in Ngaba county.

He has two children.