By Kalsang Rinchen
IMAGERIGHTDharamsala, August 26 – Reports of arrests of four Tibetan students in Barkham County in March this year have emerged from Tibet. According to Tsering, a Tibetan monk living here in exile, Chinese government arrested the four Tibetans on charges of instigating students against the government through their magazine Namchak (Thunderbolt).
IMAGERIGHTThe four, Sonam Rinchen; 19, Sonam Dhondup; 18, Yargay; age not known, and Drakden; age not known, contributed to the magazine as its editors. Sonam Rinchen and Sonam Dhondup are natives of Zoege County in Ngaba “Tibet Autonomous Prefecture” while Yargay and Drakden are from Ngaba County in Ngaba “Tibet Autonomous Prefecture.”
IMAGERIGHTAll four studied at the Barkham Nationalities’ Higher Intermediate School (translated from Tibetan name, may not be correct) where they initiated a gathering of Tibetan students to commemorate the 2008 uprisings on March 27 this year.
IMAGERIGHTSeveral articles, poems and essays by Tibetan students of the school expressing their solidarity with the jailed Tibetan protesters and paying tribute to those killed by Chinese security forces and criticizing the Chinese government were published in the magazine.
Sonam Rinchen and Yargay were reportedly sentenced to two years in prison but there is no information on their current whereabouts, Tsering told Phayul.
According to Tsering, Sonam Dhondup and Drakden are said to be in detention somewhere in Barkham County but there is no information yet if they were sentenced or still awaiting trial.
