By Tenzin Monlam
DHARAMSHALA, September 11: A Tibetan political prisoner was released on completion of three years’ imprisonment on Wednesday from Mianyang prison near Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province.
Lobsang Tsering, 29, a monk of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba County, was welcomed by his friends and family outside the prison premises.
He was garlanded with the khata, Tibetan traditional well-wishing scarves, upon arrival to his native village where local Tibetans rejoined his homecoming.
Lobsang was arrested on June 26, 2012 for distributing leaflets containing messages that were “separatist” in nature.
He belongs to a family of seven consisting of parents Tharco and Takyith, three brothers and a sister.
Kirti monastery, one of the largest monasteries in eastern Tibet with around 2500 monks, was often the target of Chinese authorities with armed soldiers strictly controlling the movement of the monks over the years. Several monks of the monastery had carried out self immolation protests against Chinese rule and called for the return of the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Hundreds of monks from the monastery have disappeared in the past, while many have been sentenced to lengthy jail terms on charges of “subversion”.
Just this week, two monks of Lobsang’s monastery, which has been in the news for several protests against Chinese rule, were arrested for carrying out solo protests in the market square of Ngaba town.
