Human Rights Watch calls for immediate, unconditional release of ailing prominent Tibetan monk-writer
DHARAMSALA, 10 Feb: Human Rights Watch has called for the immediate and unconditional release of a prominent Tibetan monk-writer from Kirti monastery, Go Sherab Gyatso from Chinese captivity.
Celebrated Tibetan writer Go Sherab Gyatso’s “health has recently worsened,” the New York-based rights group said citing the imprisoned monks associates outside of Tibet as they declared that “the Chinese government should immediately and unconditionally release” him.
“He suffers from a chronic lung condition, and may not be receiving adequate medical treatment in prison,” the rights group has said.
Sophie Richardson, the China director at Human Rights Watch has said that “once again the Chinese government’s wrongful imprisonment of a Tibetan risks becoming a death sentence.”
“Go Sherab Gyatso should be immediately released and given comprehensive medical care,” she added.
While many Tibetan political prisoners have perished without medical care while in Chinese captivity, activists and rights groups alike have stated that Chinese authorities are also known to release political prisoners when it became imminent that the prisoners would die from the injuries sustained from severe beatings and torture during police detention and interrogation.
For the uninitiated, the Tibetan monk was arbitrarily detained by the Chinese secret agents from Lhasa in Chengdu in January last year and was later charged with “inciting secession”.
Go Sherab Gyatso debuted with his book titled “Time to Wake up” in Tibetan in 2009. The book became hugely popular in Tibet as well as in the exile diaspora earning him a legion of fans.
The 46 years old writer was previously arrested by the Chinese authorities in three instances.
First in 1998 for defying China’s “re-education” programs which resulted in 4 years prison sentence, later during the 2008 Pan-Tibet uprising he was arrested again for leading a group of Kirti monks protesting in the streets of Lhasa for which he was subjected to over a year-long prison sentence.
And in 2011, amidst a report that he went missing after a self-immolation protest in Ngaba by a fellow Kirti monk, it was reported that he was held incarcerated in Chengdu by the Chinese authorities.