(TibetanReview.net, Dec06’23) – Chinese authorities are reported to have detained two Tibetan women, who are sisters, for what they apparently saw as making religiously inspired appeals for donations to their charity work that helps the poor and needy in their village.
They were detained on Oct 23 after sending voice messages in chat groups on the social media application WeChat, encouraging everyone to practise virtuous actions, said tibetwatch.org of Tibet Watch, the research section of London-based Free Tibet campaign group, Dec 5.
The research group said Tsomo and Nyidon, both devout Buddhists from a village in Karchen Township of Sershul (Chinese: Shiqu) County in Kardze (Ganzi) Prefecture, Sichuan province, regularly volunteered to serve the poorest in their community.
They were taken to the county detention centre after arrest, with no information on their conditions ever since.
The two sisters were taken in apparently for violating China’s Dec 20, 2021 regulations which aimed at controlling religion in society with the announcement of Measures on the Administration of Internet Religious Information Service. Article 17 of the Measures stipulates that individuals and organisations without authorised government licence are “not allowed to organise and carry out religious activities on the internet,” the group said.
Many villagers in Karchen Township were stated to have been summoned to their local police station and subjected to interrogations about their activities of promoting Buddhist virtues.
China has previously arrested over many years Tibetans for giving or collecting donations for religious offerings.