The alleged crime of Lobsang Lhundup, pen name Dhi Lhaden, a native of Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture who became a monk at the age of 11, was “creating disorder among the public,” according to a Radio Free Asia report (August 7, 2023). Lhaden had criticized China’s rule of Tibet and reported on the 2008 uprisings in Tibet.
The characterization of the alleged crime, “creating disorder among the public,” comes not directly from the government but from RFA’s unnamed source, who can further say only that Lhaden is home now but is not being left alone.
“There are no other details and information on his health condition. He is constantly under scrutiny though,” the source said.
Lhundup was taken into custody in June 2019 while working at a private cultural education center in Chengdu, the capital of western China’s Sichuan province, a source living in Tibet told RFA in 2021.
“It appears that someone told the owner of the cultural center about the teaching materials he was using, and so he was arrested,” RFA’s source said at the time, speaking on condition of anonymity for reasons of personal safety.
The question of Lhaden’s health was raised because torture of Tibetan political prisoners is routine. FreeTibet.org reports:
Former prisoners have regularly reported being beaten with electric batons, butts of guns and other heavy objects. There were also repeated cases of detainees being subjected to electric shocks during interrogations.
Some Tibetan prisoners have been hung from the ceiling for periods lasting several hours. Others have reported being shackled to an iron “interrogation chair”, which forces the detainee to bear their entire weight on their wrists and legs. Political prisoner Golog Jigme tells of how a senior prison officer warned other guards that if he spent any more time tied in this position it could kill him.
If the Radio Free Asia account of Lhaden’s arrest is accurate—and it seems likely enough—someone complained about ideas he didn’t want to hear or to be heard by others, and then someone else reported Lhaden to the government for communicating these ideas. If either informant felt any compunction about consigning Lhaden to whatever imprisonment and torture Chinese officials would decide upon, this was insufficient to deter them.
Since Lhaden is now being watched, and he seems to be the kind of person who will not remain silent indefinitely about the things he cares about, he may end up back to prison.
