Court Imprisons One Tibetan Writer, Party Officials Shut Down Another's Blogs

The Intermediate People's Court in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), sentenced a Tibetan teacher and writer to 10 years' imprisonment in September 2005 on charges of "endangering state security," according to a July 25, 2006, Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) press release. Chinese security officials detained Drolma Kyab, a middle school history teacher in Lhasa, on March 9, 2005, and the Court sentenced him on September 16. Drolma Kyab was working on unpublished draft commentaries about such topics as Tibetan history, sovereignty, religion, and the location of People's Liberation Army (PLA) bases in Tibetan areas of China, according to the TCHRD release. Official information about the charges against him is not available. If Drolma Kyab wrote about PLA facilities, authorities may have accused him of a criminal offense involving espionage or state secrets (Criminal Law, Articles 110, 111), and court officials may have closed the trial to the public (Criminal Procedure Law, Article 152).

Drolma Kyab's family, residents of Haibei (Tsojang) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai province, appealed the conviction, according to the TCHRD report, but the TAR High People’s Court upheld the verdict on November 30, 2005, and authorities transferred Drolma Kyab to Qushui Prison. An August 3, 2006, Times Online article reported that Drolma Kyab wrote a letter to the UN Commission on Human Rights explaining the purpose of his writing and appealing for help. In the letter, reportedly smuggled out of Qushui Prison and seen by the Times Online, Drolma Kyab said, "I want to keep up my courage . . .. I would like to draw attention to this situation and ask you to help me."

In another development, United Front Work Department officials ordered Tibetcul.net, a Chinese-language Web site registered in Gansu province that focuses on Tibetan culture, to take down two "blogs" (Web logs), according to a Radio Free Asia (RFA) report on August 1. The blogs were maintained by Oezer (or Woeser, Weise), a popular Tibetan writer and poet. Oezer told RFA during a phone-in radio program that she writes in Chinese because she wants Han Chinese people to "learn the truth about Tibetan history, culture, religion, and traditions." She told RFA, "I think the main reason for shutting my blog was that I placed a photo of His Holiness [the Dalai Lama] in my blog. I also composed a poem wishing him long life on [his birthday]. ... Chinese authorities don’t like such things." The Ministry of Information Industry and the State Council Information Office promulgated new rules in September 2005 to tighten control over Internet news information services, including electronic bulletin board systems and blogs.

Oezer has written 10 volumes, including a collection of poems, a prose volume entitled Tibet Journal, and two books on China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), according to the RFA report. Authorities stripped her of her job, residence, health and retirement benefits, and forbade her to apply for a passport after she published a collection of essays in Guangzhou city, Guangdong province, in 2003, according to an October 2004 Human Rights in China (HRIC) report. The volume, which officials subsequently banned, presented thoughts "relating to Tibet's history, personalities, and way of life." According to HRIC, authorities ruled that positive references to the Dalai Lama were "political errors." The Tibetan Cultural Association in Lhasa, Oezer's employer, assembled a group to conduct "thought correction" with her. She left Lhasa to avoid pressure to recant her views and abandon Buddhism.

See Section III(d) - "Freedom of Religion," Religious Freedom for Tibetan Buddhists, and Section VI - "Tibet," Tibetan Culture and Human Rights, of the CECC 2005 Annual Report for more information on how Chinese authorities punish Tibetans for peaceful expressions that officials believe could undermine Party rule. For more information about political prisoners in China, including Tibetans, visit the Commission's Political Prisoner Database.