(WiPC/IFEX) – The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN protests the detention of teacher and writer Dolma Kyab (pen-name Lobsang Kelsang Gyatso), who has been detained since 9 March 2005 and is serving a ten-year prison sentence for his critical writings. International PEN calls for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN protests the detention of teacher and writer Dolma Kyab (pen-name Lobsang Kelsang Gyatso), who has been detained since 9 March 2005 and is serving a ten-year prison sentence for his critical writings. International PEN calls for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory. PEN seeks information about his health and assurances that he is receiving all necessary medical care following reports that he contracted tuberculosis whilst in pre-trial detention.
According to information received in July 2006, Dolma Kyab is serving a ten-year prison sentence for writing a comprehensive study about Tibet. The manuscript, written in Chinese, is entitled “Sao dong de Ximalayashan” and is reportedly a compilation of 57 chapters covering various topics including democracy, the sovereignty of Tibet, Tibet under communism, colonialism, and religion. Dolma Kyab is also said to have started another manuscript on the geographical aspects of Tibet, which was comparatively short yet touched on sensitive topics about the location and number of Chinese military camps in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).
Dolma Kyab was reportedly arrested on 9 March 2005 in Lhasa, where he was teaching history at a middle school. He was held pending trial at the TAR Public Security Bureau Detention Centre, popularly known as “Seitru”, on charges of “endangering state security”, and sentenced on 16 September 2005 by the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court to ten years in prison. The sentence was upheld on appeal on 30 November 2005. In March 2006 he was transferred to Chushul Prison. Dolma Kyab reportedly contracted tuberculosis whilst in “Seitru” prison, for which he received medical treatment before being transferred to Chushul Prison.
The following background is provided by The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), http://www.tchrd.org/ :
“Dolma Kyab was born in 1976 in Ari Village, Qilian County, Tsochang Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. He attended the local primary school in 1984 and later joined the county middle school. After completing his schooling in 1995, he joined a teachers’ training centre and served as a teacher in a middle school in Qilian County. He later went to a university in Beijing to continue his studies. In 2003, he came to India to learn English and Hindi languages and returned to Tibet in May 2004. Upon return, he served as a history teacher in a middle school in Lhasa until arrest.’
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to the Chinese authorities:
– protesting the ten-year prison sentence handed down to teacher and writer Dolma Kyab, and calling for his immediate and unconditional release in accordance with Article 19 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which China is a signatory
– expressing concern for his health following reports that he contracted tuberculosis in pre-trial detention, and seeking assurances that he is receiving all necessary medical care
APPEALS TO:
His Excellency Hu Jintao
President of the People’s Republic of China
State Council
Beijing 100032
P.R.China
Procurator General Mr. Jia Chunwang
Supreme People’s Procuratorate
Beiheyan Street 147
100726 Beijing
P.R.China
Please note that fax numbers are no longer available for the Chinese authorities, so you may wish to ask the diplomatic representative for China in your country to forward your appeals. Please copy appeals to the diplomatic representative for China in your country if possible, and to the source.
