Drukar Gyal, better known by his pen name Shokjang, was arrested in his hotel in Rebkong on March 19 last year, accused of “inciting separatism” through his writing and social media activity. The Malho Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him on February 17 this year to three years imprisonment along with two years deprivation of political rights. On March 12, the convict addressed a 12-page long letter to the Qinghai Higher People’s Court appealing to them to revoke his verdict.
In his paper to the authorities, the writer asserts his innocence by stating that the right of freedom of expression is guaranteed by the Chinese constitution. He underlines the absurdity of the situation by meticulously arguing the charges against him. He writes: “China is a vast country with 56 different nationalities, and Tibetans are one of the largest minorities. I am a Chinese citizen, and as a Tibetan intellectual, I have to be concerned for the precious lives of my own kin. If doing so is called ‘instigating separatism’, nothing is more laughable. I might joyfully and voluntarily serve my sentence, but I never want to be a person without regard for the lives of his brothers and sisters. Come to that, I would do the same for our Chinese brothers and sisters.”
The letter also points out the rough conditions of his arrest, mentioning two policemen bursting into his room, pointing a gun at him and ransacking the place without a warrant. With a dash of irony, Shokjang says that he is the injured party in this story.
The organisation Students for Free Tibet has launched an online campaign aiming to call on China to release Shokjang.
On May 3, SFT took over the main square in McLeod Ganj to stage a mock trial of Shokjang to draw attention to his situation: he is currently remaining behind the bars in China. In McLeod square, the staged “Malho People’s Court” was vehemently denying every argument made by the writer against his accusation and the “trial” ended with the “Chinese judge” throwing Shokjang into jail, shouting “You’re a Tibetan, the law doesn’t apply to you”. Following this representation, the SFT volunteers explained Shokjang’s case in greater detail and called on everyone present to take part in their campaign FreeShokjang which they are aiming to take to an international level through a petition and a strong social media presence. The audience participated by taking pictures of themselves wearing mock prison chains and posing next to a human size model of a pen made for the occasion.
The SFT event in McLeod was timed to coincide with World Press Freedom Day on May 3, and to mark the day Amnesty International listed Shokjang as one of the nine journalists under attack “Journalism is not a crime, yet the principles of free speech and a free press are threatened right across the world,” said Amnesty’s Ben Beaumont speaking of the nine cases of journalists who have been prosecuted, locked up, tortured, or even killed for merely speaking out against injustices.
Shokjang’s case reminds us of the fate of many other Tibetan artists jailed by the Chinese authorities under questionable accusations. In its end-of-year report Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders) counted 23 journalists and more than 80 bloggers behind bars for the year 2015 alone.
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