(TibetanReview.net, Mar27, 2015) – Chinese police have taken way a Tibetan monk from his monastery in Sog (Chinese: Suo) County of Nagchu (Naqu) Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region, on Mar 20, following the detention of seven monks from the same monastery on Mar 14, reported Radio Free Asia (RFA, Washington) Mar 25. As in the case of the previous detentions, no reason was given for the detention of Lobsang Dawa, 38, who was taken away at night from Tsenden Monastery.
The report cited its source, an exile Tibetan with local contacts, as saying he may have been held for having posted information on social media website sites which Chinese authorities consider subversive.
The monk, who originally belongs to Bechen Village of Rawak Township in Sog County, was said to be in charge of the maintenance of the monastery’s buildings.
Earlier, RFA and other reports said Mar 17 that seven monks – named as Namgyal Tsultrim, Lodoe Tenzin, Tsultrim Gongji, Tsultrim Namgyal, Thabkey Lhundup, Jigme Tsultrim, and Jigme Drakpa – from the same monastery were taken away by police on Mar 17. In their case too, it was assumed that the authorities suspected them of having sent to outside contacts information, including pictures, which they considered anti-China. Of them, Namgyal Tsultrim was said to have been previously detained two times. The first was for seven days in 2011 when the authorities suspected him of maintaining contacts with people outside the region. He was again taken into custody on Oct 6, 2012 and held at the Nagchu detention centre for five months and later transferred to Toelung prison where he was held for another three months.
The whereabouts of all the eight monks remain unknown.