(TibetanReview.net, Apr15’21) – Chinese police in Kardze Prefecture of Sichuan Province have arrested six prominent Tibetan writers and activists in recent weeks for no known reason, reported the Tibetan Service of rfa.org Apr 14, citing an exile Tibetan monk with local contacts.
One of those arrested was stated to be writer and environmental activist Sey Nam. He was taken away on Apr 2 in Serta (Chinese: Seda) County of Kardze (Ganzi) Prefecture, the report cited Golok Jigme, a former political prisoner who now lives in Switzerland, as saying, citing local contacts.
The source has cited communication restrictions for being unable to find out the reason for his arrest.
Also taken away on Apr 2 was stated to be Tibetan woman activist and former political prisoner Tsering Dolma. She is a veteran of at least two previous arrests (in 2008 and 2012) for protesting against Chinese policies and rule in Tibetan areas.
Earlier, on Mar 23, Chinese police arrested in Serta County on Mar 23 Gangkye Drubpa Kyab (aka Gangme Thak), a writer and former political prisoner, without giving any reason for taking him away.
Before that, on Mar 22, political activist Gangbu Yudrum was taken away, with the Chinese police giving no reason for arrest him, the monk has said.
He was stated to have been jailed for the first time in 2008 for three years for his role in a protest in which he raised the banned Tibetan national flag and called for the return to Tibet of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
He was again arrested in 2012, and to have come out of jail in 2014. He was then stated to have written and distributed copies of a letter to local Tibetans, urging them to work to free Tibet from Beijing’s rule.
The report cited Jigme as saying two of the six recently detained Tibetans had not yet been identified while the whereabouts of all six were still unknown.
