25 July 2006
Unpublished book lands Tibetan in jail
TCHRD and Times report details about the detention of a 29-year-old Tibetan, Dolma Kyab, said to have been sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment term for writing a manuscript about Tibet, and to be currently held at Chushul (Chin: Qushui) Prison in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). Dolma Kyab, who used the pseudonym ‘Lobsang Kelsang Gyatso’, was reportedly arrested in March 2005 in Lhasa where he worked as a history teacher. His manuscript, written in Chinese and entitled ‘Restless Himalayas’, is about the situation in Tibet under Chinese rule. He allegedly had also begun writing another book about the Chinese military presence in the TAR. Following his arrest in March 2005, Dolma Kyab was initially held at the PSB detention centre (popularly known as ‘Sitru’ in Tibetan). On 16 September 2005, he was charged with "endangering state security" and sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment. Although his family appealed, the court upheld the sentence on 30 November 2005 and he was moved to Chushul Prison. In a letter smuggled from prison and addressed to the United Nations, he condemned the severity of his sentence, saying: "I have written a book which was not yet published. In this book I wrote about democracy, freedom and the situation in Tibet. That is the main reason for my conviction, but according to Chinese law this would be not enough reason to give me such a sentence."