Tibetan Writer Given 10-Year Prison Term in Secret Trial

Go Sherab Gyatso had written books and articles describing restrictions on Tibetans living under Chinese rule.

Reported by Lhuboom

A Chinese court in Tibet has given a 10-year prison term to a Tibetan writer and educator known for expressing loyalty to exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, with the sentence handed down in a secret trial, RFA has learned.

Go Sherab Gyatso, a 46-year-old monk at Kirti monastery in Sichuan’s Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, was taken into custody on unknown charges by State Security agents on Oct. 26, 2020 in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu.

Gyatso will be moved soon to a prison near Tibet’s regional capital Lhasa, sources close to Gyatso said. No  details are available regarding the charges on which he was convicted.

Speaking to RFA, a Tibetan scholar living in exile described Gyatso – who had written books and articles describing restrictions on freedom of expression under Chinese rule – as an “open-minded individual who advocates the preservation of Tibetan language, religion and culture.”

“He also believes in the equality of humanity,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It’s sad news to hear about his 10-year sentence on Human Rights Day, and I want to call on the United Nations, governments around the world, and the international community to look into this matter immediately,” he said.

Human Rights Day is observed on the anniversary of the United Nations adoption on Dec. 10, 1948 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Chinese government in October responded to a July 16 letter from U.N. human rights experts asking about Gyatso’s case, telling them that Gyatso had been placed in criminal detention “in accordance with the law on suspicion of inciting secession.”

“No such things as ‘secret detention,’ ‘arbitrary detention,’ or ‘enforced disappearance’ ever took place,” China said.

Gyatso had earlier endured a four-year period of detention, beginning in 1998 during a “Patriotic Reeducation” campaign in Ngaba, for possessing a portrait of the Dalai Lama.

He was also reportedly detained for a year in 2008 during a period of widespread unrest in Tibet, although the specific reasons for that detention were not immediately clear.

Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is widely reviled by Chinese leaders as a separatist intent on splitting Tibet, a formerly independent Himalayan country which was invaded and incorporated into China by force in 1950, from Beijing’s control.

The Dalai Lama himself says only that he seeks a greater autonomy for Tibet as a part of China, with guaranteed protections for Tibet’s language, culture and religion.

Chinese authorities maintain a tight grip on Tibet and Tibetan regions of western China, restricting Tibetans’ political activities and peaceful expression of ethnic and religious identity, and subjecting Tibetans to persecution, torture, imprisonment and extrajudicial killings.

Translated by Tenzin Dickyi for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Written in English by Richard Finney.

Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036. https://www.rfa.org

Repression in Pakistan Worse 1 year After Assault on Military Installations:Rights Groups

Human rights proponents say that since supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan stormed military properties to protest his arrest, political repression in Pakistan has increased.

Read More

Ukrainian Priests:Serve Church, Support State

Orthodox priests in Ukraine are finding themselves trying to serve their church and support their state, even when those two are at adds as Orthodox Christians get ready to celebrate Easter on May 5.

Read More

At Their Peril, Student Journalists Cover Campus Protests

Protests related to Israel-Hamas war have erupted on American college campuses, with some leading to clashes between student groups and police.And despite the dangers, student journalists and their news organizations are leading press coverage.

Read More

Rising Water Levels in Lake Malawi Engulf Communities, Resorts

Lake Malawi, Malawi’s largest body of water, is seeing an unprecedented surge in water level. Almost ninety percent of the beach area, according to the authorities, is under water, damaging land, crops, and lakeside hotels, resorts, and lodges.

Read More

Safety Reforms in Bangladesh Garment Sector Risk ‘Losing Momentum’

About one-fifth of Bangladesh’s ready-made garment factories do not meet fire, electrical and structural safety standards 11 years after the collapse of Rana Plaza that left more than 1,100 garment workers dead, according to an industry monitoring body.

Read More

VOA Asia Weekly:The Story of an Exiled Chinese Journalist

Lawmakers in the Solomon Islands elect a new prime minister.Southeast Asia May Day protests. Record heat wave temperatures. Why sumo wrestlers held crying babies.

Read More

Report Warns,Climate Change Set to Cut Average Income by 19%

According to a new report by Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, which was published in the journal Nature, the average income of people around the world will be cut by one-fifth by the middle of the century due to climate change.

Read More

Timor-Leste Seeks Economic Lifeline as Oil Wealth Dwindles

Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, has made significant strides since its tumultuous birth in 2002, but the economic impact of the plunder of resources of centuries of Portuguese colonial rule and the looting, pillage, and large-scale destruction of property during a 24-year Indonesian occupation can still be felt today.

Read More