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The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan government-in-exile, has profiled Tibetan political prisoner Lobsang Gephel, shedding light on his ongoing imprisonment for the simple act of celebrating the 80th birthday of the 14th Dalai Lama.
In a post on X, the CTA shared details under its "Profiling Tibetan Political Prisoners" campaign. It stated that Lobsang Gephel, a monk of Kirti Monastery, was detained by Chinese authorities on the night of November 30, 2015, while returning to the monastery. He was held incommunicado at Ngaba County Detention Centre for nearly a year before being sentenced by the Barkham County People's Intermediate Court on December 6, 2016. The CTA stressed that Lobsang's case illustrates China's criminalisation of peaceful expressions of Tibetan Buddhist faith. His prosecution drew international condemnation in 2019, when five United Nations human rights experts denounced China's persecution of nine Tibetans, including Lobsang Gephel, explicitly recognising these cases as targeting individuals for their "expression of cultural and religious identity." CTA noted that this is not the first time Lobsang faced punishment. In 2011, he was jailed for three years on similar charges. At the time of his second arrest, he was serving as the store manager at Kirti Monastery's medical college. The CTA underscored that his ordeal reflects a systematic pattern of state harassment and religious repression. It added that by punishing Tibetans for celebrating their spiritual leader, China is flagrantly violating international human rights norms, the administration said. In June, the Human Rights Desk of the Department of Information and International Relations, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), issued a report to mark the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. The report, titled "Torture Deaths of Tibetan Political Prisoners", sheds light on the tragic fate of numerous Tibetans who lost their lives either while in Chinese custody or soon after release, as a result of systematic torture, denial of medical care, and harsh prison conditions. Organised under themes such as Beaten to Death, Denial of Medical Treatment, and Erasing Evidence, the document exposed the severe abuses Tibetans endure for simple acts like speaking their mother tongue or practising their faith. (ANI)
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