(TibetanReview.net, Dec11’21) – After taking him into custody on Oct 26, 2020 in Sichuan’s capital Chengdu without bothering to tell him why, China has jailed a 46-year-old Tibetan monk for 10 years in a secret trial, again without any information on the ground for his conviction, said the Tibetan Service of rfa.org Dec 10.
The monk, Go Sherab Gyatso of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba (Chinese: Aba) Prefecture of Sichuan Province, is a writer, educator, and advocate for the preservation of Tibetan language, religion and culture. And he is known for expressing loyalty to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, the report said.
The report did not say when and where he was tried and sentenced. It only said he will soon be moved to a prison near Tibet’s capital Lhasa, citing “sources” close to Gyatso.
It said no details were available of the charges on which he was convicted.
Earlier, responding to a Jul 16 query on him from UN human rights experts, China was reported to have said in Oct 2021 that Gyatso had been placed in criminal detention “in accordance with the law on suspicion of inciting secession.”
“No such things as ‘secret detention,’ ‘arbitrary detention,’ or ‘enforced disappearance’ ever took place,” China was reported to have claimed.
Go Sherab Gyatso was previously incarcerated for four years from 1998 during a “Patriotic Re-education” campaign in Ngaba for possessing a portrait of the Dalai Lama, the report said.
Later in 2008, when most of Tibet was hit by large-scale protests against Chinese rule, the monk was detained for a year, although it was not clear why, the report added.
