DHARAMSHALA, December 27: China has released three Tibetans before completion of their jail sentences in Malho and Gansu prefectures this month in what appears to be an implementation of Chinese president Xi Ji Ping’s prison reforms. The two prisons are among those that China has shut down in recent weeks.
42 year old monk named Yarphel and a 20 year old youth named Lhamo ware released yesterday from a prison in Tongkhor, Xining, while another man named Rinchen Tsering was released on Wednesday from a prison in Lanzhou.
Yarphel is a monk of Yershong monastery in Rebkong, and was arrested on Feb. 2, 2013. He was accused of taking the remains of his nephew Dorjee Lhundup, who died after setting himself ablaze in Rebkong on Nov. 4, 2012, from Rongwo monastery to his native village of Chuma Logshong. He was sentenced to one year and three months’ imprisonment on March 1, 2013 by Malho People’s Intermediate Court.
Lhamo, a native of Khyinga town, was arrested following a series of self immolation protests in Rebkong in November last year. Malho People’s Intermediate Court sentenced him to 2 years in prison for taking part in pro-independence protests and for bringing down the Chinese national flag during the protests following self immolator Kalsang Jinpa’s death.
Rinchen Tsering was arrested from Chone County during a protest in 2008 when widespread protests gripped the Tibetan plateau. He was accused of hoisting the banned Tibetan national flag and sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment.
