Tibetan writer Thupten Lodoe sentenced to four years and five months in prison
Thupten Lodoe, a Tibetan language teacher, quit his job at Sershul County Middle School due to government repression
A Tibetan writer named Thupten Lodoe, arrested in October 2021, has been sentenced to four years and five months in prison under charges of “inciting separatism” and “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”.
According to sources contacted by Tibet Watch, Thupten Lodoe was arrested in October last year by Sichuan provincial police authorities and taken away to the city of Chengdu. Seven months later, around 13 June 2022, he was handed a prison sentence on suspicion of writing posts of a political nature on social media websites Weibo and QQ. His family remains under surveillance, while his two children have been ordered to stay home and barred from joining school.
It is not known where he was held since his arrest, nor if the court informed his family about the trial. However, the charges of “separatism” are known to be routinely used against many Tibetan writers and scholars. Lodoe’s short stories and essays are loved by many readers inside Tibet and posted on various Tibetan language websites and literature platforms.
Thupten Lodoe, in his 30s, hails from Bum-nying village (འབུམ་རྙིང་སྡེ་བ།), Sershul County (སེར་ཤུལ་རྫོང་།), in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. He taught Tibetan language classes at Sershul County Middle School for years until he quit his teaching position due to the Chinese government’s repression.
Thupten Lodoe’s condition and wellbeing remain unknown, and it is not known which prison he is being held at.
Information supplied by Tibet Watch
