Chinese authorities have freed two Tibetans at the end of prison terms imposed for challenging Beijing’s rule, returning one to his home in Qinghai province in secret to prevent public celebrations and releasing the other in Gansu to a joyous reception by supporters, sources said.
Samdrub Gyatso, believed to be in his early 30s, was released from Lhasa’s notorious Drapchi prison on May 1 and was taken two days later by police to Serthang town in Dashi (in Chinese, Haiyan) county in the Tsojang (Haibei) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, a Tibetan living in exile told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
Because he was brought back in secret, “the local Tibetans could not provide a welcoming reception, and they could not assess his state of health,” the source, named Phuntsok, said.
Gyatso had been detained on May 1, 2010 after launching a solitary protest in front of Lhasa’s central temple, the Jokhang, sources said in earlier reports.
Before being taken into custody, he had shouted slogans calling for the return to Tibet of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, the release from detention of another senior religious leader, and the restoration of property belonging to Tibetans expelled from their land following a devastating earthquake.
"After that, nothing was heard of him," Phuntsok said. "Later, he was found in Drapchi prison, serving a five-year sentence."
Briefly jailed before
Gyatso had briefly been detained before, Phuntsok said.
“He had traveled to India in 2007 and returned to Tibet in 2009 after a two-year stay, and on his return he was charged with ‘escaping to India’ and with having brought back with him books containing teachings by the Dalai Lama.”
After being interrogated for three days, he was fined 10,000 yuan (U.S. $1,611) and then released, Phuntsok said.
“He was also forced to promise he would not go to India again,” he said.
Chinese police frequently investigate and arrest Tibetans deemed to be supporters of the India-based Dalai Lama, whom Beijing considers a dangerous separatist bent on “splitting” Tibet from Chinese control.
Welcomed by friends
Also this month, authorities in northwestern China's Gansu province freed a Tibetan monk jailed for four years for "protesting China's policies against Tibetans," a Tibetan living in Switzerland said, citing local sources.
Jigme Samten, 29, was released on May 3 after serving his full term in prison "and was received warmly by the local Tibetans in his hometown of Hezuo city in the Kanlho [Gannan] Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture," the source, named Sonam, said.
Samten, a monk of the Ngok Gyalmo monastery, had participated in a 2008 protest against Beijing's rule and had called for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, Sonam said.
"The Chinese authorities then put him on a wanted list, forcing him to hide for three years in remote mountain areas," he said.
When Samten attempted to return to his monastery on Aug. 2, 2011, he was immediately arrested and was later handed a four-year term in prison, Sonam said.
"While receiving Jigme Samten on Sunday, local Tibetans stood in lines along both sides of the road and offered him ceremonial scarves in welcome."
Sporadic demonstrations challenging Chinese rule have continued in Tibetan-populated areas of China since widespread protests swept the region in 2008, with 139 Tibetans to date setting themselves ablaze to oppose Beijing's rule and call for the Dalai Lama's return.
Reported by Lhuboom for RFA's Tibetan Service and by Dan Zhen for the Mandarin Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee and by Ping Chen. Written in English by Richard Finney.