(TibetanReview.net, Dec04’23) – Chinese authorities in Golog (Chinese: Guoluo) prefecture of Qinghai Province have jailed a Tibetan singer for apparently sharing on social media a patriotic Tibetan song, according to Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy Dec 4.
The group said it was not clear when the singer, named as Palden, was arrested. He was taken away after he shared a patriotic Tibetan song on the Chinese social media platform KuaiShou. It said he was sentenced on unknown charges after being held at an undisclosed location for several months. The group did not know when or where he was tried before being jailed for three years, or whether it was administrative detention.
Profiling political prisoners in Chinese ruled Tibet, Tibet.net of the Central Tibetan Administration at Dharamshala said Dec 2 that Palden had not posted any song on his Quaishou social media account, which had 98.5K followers, since Mar 26, 2023, suggesting he may have been arrested on or sometime after that day.
According to the Tibetan-language tibettime.net Nov 27, the county police only verbally informed Palden’s family that he had been jailed for three years, without any other information or any sort of documentary basis for his imprisonment. It was also not clear when the police contacted the family with this piece of information.
The group said Palden, a native of Yotag village in Didha town of Pema County, Golog prefecture, gained wide popularity after he sang a song to pay tribute to his mother at a competition organized by a famous Tibetan singer named Menthang Sermo Tso.