(TibetanReview.net, Aug06’26) – The United States section of Amnesty International has on Aug 5 called on China to release Chinese democracy and human rights activist Zhang Yi following his arrest on Jul 1 for allegedly inciting “inciting separatism”. The accusation is based on an incident in Tibet’s capital Lhasa in which Zhang showed a Dalai Lama photo on his mobile phone to a Tibetan worshipper at a monastery.
“Displaying a photograph of a religious leader should never be treated as a threat to national security. The Chinese authorities must immediately release Zhang Yi as he has been detained solely for the peaceful exercise of his human rights,” said the group in a Press Release Aug 5.
“Pending his release, they must ensure that he has prompt access to his family and a lawyer of his own choosing. Authorities must protect him from torture and other ill-treatment while in detention,” said the group’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks.
The release said that according to an arrest notice received by his family on Aug 5, Zhang was formally arrested on Jul 28, 2026 on suspicion of “inciting separatism”. His family was learnt to have been informed of the arrest by telephone on Jul 30.
Zhang was detained by police in Tibet’s capital Lhasa on Jul 1 while visiting Sera Monastery with his younger brother. Being unable to communicate verbally with a Tibetan worshipper from whom he wished to borrow a prayer mat, Zhang showed the person a photograph of the Dalai Lama on his mobile phone.
His family has said that two plainclothes men observed the interaction and appeared to record Zhang and his brother as they left the prayer area. Police then detained Zhang before he left the monastery.
Later on, Zhang’s family received a Criminal Detention Notice issued by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau on Jul 18, stating that he had been placed under criminal detention on suspicion of “inciting separatism” and was being held at Lhasa Detention Center. The authorities have not disclosed the factual basis for the accusation.
Zhang was detained on the day China’s so-called Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law came into force on Jul 1. The law contains broad and vaguely worded provisions requiring the promotion of “ethnic unity” and a shared national identity, creating additional legal grounds for restricting the peaceful exercise of human rights, including the rights to freedom of expression, religion or belief, and cultural rights, the group said.
Zhang Yi is a prominent Chinese democracy activist and human rights defender from Wuhan, Hubei province. He first became politically active during the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement.