Dharamshala, 14th December: According to RFA, a Tibetan writer and educator known for expressing loyalty to exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was sentenced to ten years in prison by a Chinese court in Tibet in a secret trial. On Oct. 26, 2020, State Security officers in Chengdu arrested Go Sherab Gyatso, a 46-year-old monk from Kirti monastery in Sichuan’s Ngaba (in Chinese, Aba) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, on unknown accusations. Go Sherab Gyatso was a Tibetan author who wrote books and articles about the restrictions imposed on Tibetans living under Chinese rule.
Gyatso will be sent to a prison in Lhasa, Tibet’s regional capital, according to those close to him. There are no specifics about the counts on which he was found guilty. Gyatso was described as an “open-minded individual who favors the preservation of Tibetan language, religion, and culture” by a Tibetan professor living in exile who spoke to RFA. Gyatso had produced books and articles exposing limits on freedom of expression under Chinese authority.
“He also believes in humanity’s equality,” According to a source who told RFA on the condition of anonymity. “On Human Rights Day, I want to call on the United Nations, countries around the world, and the international community to look into this situation quickly,” he said.
Human Rights Day commemorates the United Nations’ ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948.
In response to a July 16 letter from UN human rights experts inquiring about Gyatso’s situation, the Chinese government said in October that Gyatso had been detained “in line with the law on suspicion of instigating secession.”
“There has never been any such thing as secret detention,’ ‘arbitrary confinement,’ or ‘enforced disappearance,’” China stated.
Gyatso had already served a four-year sentence for possessing a Dalai Lama portrait, which began in 1998 during a “Patriotic Reeducation” program in Ngaba.
During a period of major upheaval in Tibet in 2008, he was also reportedly held for a year, however, the particular grounds for his detention were not immediately known.
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