DHARAMSHALA, January 7: In continuing crackdown on “crimes” related to the self-immolations in Tibet, a young Tibetan man has been sentenced to prison for allegedly contacting a Tibetan journalist in exile while two monks are being held arbitrarily by Chinese police for offering prayers for a Tibetan self-immolator.
According to exile media sources, Yum Kyab, a 25-year-old Tibetan from Rebkong in Malho region of eastern Tibet is serving jail sentence in Siling city after was secretly sentenced by a Chinese court.
Yum Kyab’s family members and relatives know that he has been secretly sentenced but they have still not been informed of the prison term and his well being.
Sources confirm that he was detained several months ago by Chinese security personnel on charges of having stored pictures of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, which are banned in Tibet, on his mobile phone. According to reports Kyab had also stored pictures of the March 2008 uprisings in Tibet on his phone and had allegedly contacted a Tibetan journalist in exile.
Details of the charges levied against him or the length of his prison sentence are not yet known.
Yum Kyab is a sculptor and the sole earning member in his family. He has two sons, Khando Thar and Tsogo.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident, two monks of the Bido Monastery were arrested by local Chinese security personnel for saying prayers and offering their last respects to Tibetan self-immolator Wangchen Norbu.
Tsundue, 27 and Gendun Tsultrim, around 30, had visited Wangchen Norbu’s house a day after he set himself on fire protesting China’s continued occupation of Tibet on November 19, 2012.
Many other monks and laymen had also visited the deceased’s home.
Although, according to reports, a number of them were arrested by the Chinese police but all of them expect the two monks were released.
Wangchen Norbu, 25, set himself ablaze near the Kangtsa Gaden Choephel Ling Monastery and succumbed to his injuries at the site of his protest.
He had raised slogans for the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile, release of the Panchen Lama and freedom for Tibet.
His charred body was later carried inside the Monastery premises where a large number of monks and local people gathered and raised slogan calling for the Dalai Lama’s return and recited prayers for his long life late into the night.
The condition of the two arrested monks is not yet known.
