2014 prison census - China: Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang
| Publisher | Committee to Protect Journalists |
| Publication Date | 17 December 2014 |
| Cite as | Committee to Protect Journalists, 2014 prison census - China: Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang, 17 December 2014, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/549804ff6.html [accessed 22 May 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
| Kunchok Tsephel Gopey Tsang, Chomei | |
|---|---|
| Medium: | Internet |
| Charge: | Anti-State |
| Imprisoned: | February 26, 2009 |
Public security officials arrested Tsang, an online writer, in Gannan, a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the south of Gansu province, according to Tibetan rights groups. Tsang ran the Tibetan cultural issues website Chomei, according to the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Kate Saunders, U.K. communications director for the International Campaign for Tibet, told CPJ that she learned of his arrest from two sources.
The detention appeared to be part of a wave of arrests of writers and intellectuals in advance of the 50th anniversary of the March 1959 uprising preceding the Dalai Lama's departure from Tibet. The 2008 anniversary had provoked ethnic rioting in Tibetan areas, and international reporters were barred from the region.
In November 2009, a Gannan court sentenced Tsang to 15 years in prison for disclosing state secrets, according to The Associated Press.
Tsang served four years of his sentence in Dingxi prison in Lanzhu, Gansu province, before being transferred in August 2013 to another prison in Gansu where conditions are harsher and where there are serious concerns for his health, according to PEN International. His family is allowed to visit every two months, but is permitted to speak with him only in Chinese via intercom through a glass screen. Not being allowed to converse in Tibetan is difficult for many of his family members, PEN International said. Prisoners held for politically charged reasons are frequently moved and, according to PEN, as of late 2014 it was unclear in which prison Tsang was being held.
