Two Tibetans get up to 15 years for online articles

(TibetanReview.net, Nov19, 2009)  Ahead of US President Barack Obama’s call on China on Nov 17 to end its online censorship, because freedom of speech and expression is a source of strength and stability rather than a basis for fear, courts in Gansu and Qinghai provinces had jailed two Tibetans for five and 15 years for posting articles on their websites.

A court official in Gannan (Tibetan: Kanlho) prefecture of Gansu Province has confirmed to the German news agency DPA Nov 17 that Kunchok Tsephel, 39, hade been jailed for 15 years on Nov 12 for allegedly 'disclosing state secrets'. The case involved state secrets and was handled by the court's criminal division, it cited the official as saying. Also, on Nov 14, a court in neighbouring Golok prefecture of Qinghai province sentenced a young Tibetan blogger to a five-year jail term, reported Paris-based Reporters without Borders (RSF) Nov 16.

The Gansu sentencing was reported by Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) Nov 17, which said the prefectural Intermediate People’s Court summoned relatives of Kunchok to hear the sentence following a closed trial.

Kunchok, a graduate of Beijing Nationality University and North Western Nationality University in Lanzhou, was arrested on Feb 26’09, but his family never knew his whereabouts until they received summons for the Nov 12 trial and sentencing.

Kunchok had founded the popular Tibetan literary and cultural website Chodme (www.tibetcm.com), and had worked as a local environmental protection official. He was also a teacher of Tibetan and English at the Tibetan Nationality Middle School in Machu (Chinese: Maqu) County. Some of the charges were said to be related to the postings on his website. The state secrets violation charge related to his alleged passing of information about the Mar-Apr’09 protests in Tibet.

ICT cited friends as saying Kunchok was in poor health after nine months of detention and interrogation and there were fears for his welfare.

In Golok, the Prefectural Intermediate People’s Court sentenced the popular blogger and photographer Kunga Tseyang, 20, on various charges that included posting articles on his Zindris (notes) website. RSF said he was convicted for writing “separatist” articles, posting them online and having contact with a Buddhist monk in India. 

Kunga, know by the pen-name of Gangnyi (Snow Sun), was a student at a monastery in Gansu Province when he was arrested in Mar’09. He had written articles on Buddhism and Tibetan culture, and taken photographs for a local environmental protection office called Yutse, said the RSF report.

RSF demanded that the Chinese government overturn the “heavy prison sentences, which two Tibetan writers have been given just for expressing their views.”