Elderly Tibetan political prisoner released after serving 12-yr sentence

By Lobsang Tenchoe

DHARAMSALA, September 2: An elderly Tibetan political prisoner was released by the Chinese authorities after serving a twelve-year sentence in Chinese prison.

Sonam Gyalpo was released on August 27 after he was arrested for the third time in 2006 reports, Gu-Chu-Sum Movement Association of Tibet based in Dharamsala.

“The senior Tibetan political prisoner was arrested for the third time in less than two decades in 2006 for reasons deemed political, he was later handed a term of twelve years behind bars. However, no information regarding his health condition is available at the moment due to heightened crackdown on information outflow specifically in Tibet Autonomous Region,” the rights group stated in its report.

Sonam Gyalpo hails from Yardok Township of Nakartse County in Lhokha Prefecture in the the traditional Tibetan province of U-tsang.

He was first arrested in September 27, 1987, the year when a series of pro-independence protests took place around Lhasa, Tibet’s capital city. He was charged with ‘counter-revolutionary’ activities and imprisoned for three years in the notorious Drapchi Prison.

Later in 1993, he was again arrested and sentenced for a period of one year, six months each at Nyari Detention Centre in Shigatse and Sangyip Prison in Lhasa respectively.