Sonam Tsephel (Gangchenpa Getak)
POLITICAL PRISONER- Name in Tibetan and Pinyin
- བསོད་ནམས་ཚེ་འཕེལ།(Suonan Cipei)
- Prisoner image
- Does it have an image?
- Yes
- Gender
- Male
- Detention Year
- 2010s: 2016
- Origin County Level
- Origin Province
- Tibet Autonomous Region
- Origin Prefecture
- Chamdo (Ch: Qamdo) Prefecture
- Date of Detention
- 19/02/2016
- Occupation at Detention
- Cultural
- Grounds for Detention
- Disrupting social order
- Endangering state security
- Inciting separatism
- Type of Place of Current Detention
- Detention centre
- Date of arrest
- Lhasa, Capital city of TAR
- Responsible for arrest and detention
- Chinese security Officials
- Description of event
Sonam Tsephel is a Tibetan writer from Pasho County (Ch: Baxio) Chamdo City of Tibet Autonomous Region. He used to operate a business from Dingri (Ch: Tingri) County, Shigatse (Ch: Xigaze) City, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Tibetan province of U-Tsang.
Due to sharing His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings and portrait on social media, Sonam Tsephel has been imprisoned twice previously. In 2009, he was sentenced twice on the trumped-up charge of “inciting separatism”
In June 2015, he was detained and punished by the Chinese police in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) for more than a month after being accused of writing that disrupted ethnic unity and sharing His Holiness portrait and teachings on social media. On 19 February 2016, he was subsequently given detention by the Chinese police. He had been arrested three times by the Chinese police between 2009 and 2016.
His family members and relatives are unaware of his current whereabouts and the circumstances behind his detention.
- Details of Violations Faced in Detention
In June 2015, he was detained and punished by the Chinese police in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) for more than a month after being accused of writing that disrupted ethnic unity and sharing His Holiness portrait and teachings on social media.
- Types of Human Rights Violations
- Social, Economic and Cultural Rights Violations: Educational Rights
- Civil and Political Rights Violations: Right to Freedom of Expression and Opinion
- Civil and Political Rights Violations: Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief
- Prison Location
- Torture
- Torture
- Published
- Published