24th March: According to RFA, a Tibetan writer who had been imprisoned for 15 years for writings deemed separatist by Chinese authorities has been freed two years before the end of his term, with no news on his current health. Kunchok Tsephel, a Tibetan rights activist born in 1970, was released from detention on March 18 and has returned to his family’s home in Machu (in Chinese, Maqu) county in Gansu province’s Kanlho (Gannan) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, according to an India-based Tibetan rights organization.
Tsering Tsomo, director of the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), said that Tsephel’s early release was based on his “good behavior” in prison, which included saving the life of another prisoner.
Tsephel was arrested on Feb. 26, 2009, by Chinese security forces who searched his home and confiscated his computer. Tsephel is the editor of Choemei (Butter Lamp), a website launched in 2005 with poet Kyabchen Dedrol to promote Tibetan literature. At the time of his detention, he was employed by the Chinese government as an environmental officer.
Tsephel was then imprisoned at an unidentified location until Nov. 12, 2009, when the Kanlho Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to 15 years in jail in a closed hearing for “disclosing state secrets,” a charge that was never formally clarified.
Tsephel had previously spent three years studying Tibetan and English at a Tibetan school in Himachal Pradesh, India, before returning to Tibet in 1994. According to an allegation by London-based Free Tibet, he was later jailed and tortured for two months in 1995 for his supposed involvement in political activities.
Leave a Reply