Chomei | Imprisoned in China | February 26, 2009

Job:Internet Reporter, Publisher/Owner
Medium:Internet
Beats Covered:Human Rights, Politics
Gender:Male
Local or Foreign:Local
Freelance:No
Charge:Anti-state
Length of Sentence:10+ years
Reported Health Problems:Yes

Public security officials arrested the online writer Tsang in Gannan, a Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the south of Gansu province, according to Tibetan rights groups. Tsang ran the Tibetan cultural issues website Chomei, according to the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. Kate Saunders, U.K. communications director for the International Campaign for Tibet, told CPJ that she learned of his arrest from two sources.

The detention appeared to be part of a wave of arrests of writers and intellectuals in advance of the 50th anniversary of the March 1959 uprising preceding the Dalai Lama's departure from Tibet. The 2008 anniversary had provoked ethnic rioting in Tibetan areas, and international reporters were barred from the region.

In November 2009, a Gannan court sentenced Tsang to 15 years in prison for disclosing state secrets, according to The Associated Press.

Tsang's family is allowed to visit him in prison every two months, and is permitted to speak with him only in Chinese via an intercom and separated by glass screen. Not being allowed to converse in Tibetan is difficult for many of his family members, PEN International said.

As of November 2017, Tsang was being held at Dingxi prison in Gansu province, according to the India-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy told CPJ that Tsang's health is failing as he suffers from pain in the legs and hips.

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