Go Sherab Gyatso
Go Sherab Gyatso, 46, a prominent Tibetan Buddhist scholar and writer from Ngaba [Ch: Aba] was given a 10 year prison sentence by the Chinese authorities in a secret trail. According to the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) also known as the Tibetan Government-in-exile, he was detained on October 26, 2020 by Chinese State Security Officers in Chengdu for expressing his views and has been held incommunicado in detention since then. No information about the circumstances of his detention or his current whereabouts was available. It is only now that Tibetans have learned that he was given a 10-year prison sentence in a secret trail.
Gyatso is a monk from Kirti monastery in Ngaba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, he is a prolific writer, having published several books on Tibetan Buddhist philosophy, tradition, environment and culture. He has also published critiques about the Tibetan monastic education system, calling for a broadening of the monastic community’s exposure. Prior to the current detention, he was arrested several times between 1998 and 2011 for his writings which spoke out against repressive and unlawful policies.
He is expected to be moved to a prison near Tibet’s capital city Lhasa; details of his charges are unavailable, a source close to Gyatso told Radio Free Asia. “It’s sad news to hear about his 10-year sentence on Human Rights Day, and I want to call on the United Nations, governments around the world, and the international community to look into this matter immediately,” said RFA’s source.
The International Campaign for Tibet (ICT)* is calling for international institutions and governments to publicly demand the immediate release of Gyatso. “The case of Go Sherab Gyatso reflects China’s pattern of relentlessly persecuting dissent and independent thought in Tibet. It is urgent that international institutions, governments and parliaments publicly demand Gyatso’s immediate release and put in place serious consequences for China’s continued violations of Tibetans’ basic freedoms,” said ICT in a press release, adding, “Gyatso’s groundless incarceration is just one more reason why the international community should demonstrate its collective disapproval by declaring a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. This is the least that countries should do to put themselves on the right side of history and send a vital message of support to victims of the Chinese government’s oppression”.
In July 2021, United Nations representatives called on the Chinese government to provide information on the whereabouts of Go Sherab Gyatso and also of Rinchen Tsultrim, another monk who was arbitrarily detained in 2019 for exercising freedom of opinion and thoughts and held in detention without legal representation or an open trial. The Chinese government responded in August 2021, saying that Go Sherab Gyatso was charged and arrested on suspicion of “inciting secession.” “No such thing as secret detention, arbitrary detention or enforced disappearance ever took place” said Chinese government officials at the time, adding that he was “detained in accordance with the law”.
*ICT is a non-profit advocacy group working to promote democratic freedoms for Tibetans, ensure their human rights, and protect Tibetan culture and the environment.
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