By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, October 29: A Tibetan writer jailed nine years ago for “separatist behavior” has been released from a prison in Xining after serving over nine year of his ten and half years imprisonment sentence.
Kelsang Sonam, a.k.a Gangpel Bodpa (pen name), was arrested and sentenced in 2006 for his crime of divulging state secrets to outsiders including ‘separatist forces’ in exile.
According to Arig Gyurmey, a Tibetan poet living here, Kelsang Sonam was imprisoned for helping another of recently freed Tibetan writer and political prisoner Dolma Kyab in smuggling his letter outside the prison.
The letters written by Kyab were all addressed to organizations such as the United Nations with appeals for help from UN Commission on human rights. Kyab wrote that he was imprisoned because of his ideas expressed in his unpublished manuscript.
Confirming his safe arrival, Gyurmey said, “Kelsang has reached his home in Dholha County after he was picked by two county judicial office staffs from Xining in the morning. However, he was secretly driven to his home.”
His parents, relatives and village folks waited for him in huge numbers. However, they could not give Kelsang a proper welcome because the officials took a detour, trickling the welcome party.
Gyurmey said that Dolma Kyab visted Kelsang at his home Wednesday.
Dolma Kyab, 39, was released on October 8 after spending over ten years in prison for endangering state security with his unpublished manuscript written in Chinese titled “Himalaya on Stir”, which was a compilation of 57 chapters written on various topics about democracy, sovereignty of Tibet, Tibet under communism, colonialism, religion and belief.
