Sonam Gyalpo
POLITICAL PRISONER- Name in Tibetan and Pinyin
- བསོད་ནམས་རྒྱལ་པོ།(Suonan)
- Gender
- Male
- Age at Detention
- 44
- Detention Year
- 2000s: 2005
- Origin County Level
- Origin County Geolocation
Latitude: 29.6526199
Longitude: 91.13775
- Origin County Geolocation (linked POLITICAL PRISONER)
- Lhasa(ལྷ་ས།)
- Origin Province
- Tibet Autonomous Region
- Origin Prefecture
- Lhasa
- Date of Detention
- 28/08/2005
- Grounds for Detention
- Endangering state security
- Type of Place of Current Detention
- Prison
- Detention Centre/Prison
- Qushui Prison
- Responsible for arrest and detention
- State Security Bureau
- Description of event
On 8 August 2023, Mr. Sonam Gyalpo, a former political prisoner passed away at 71. Sonam Gyalpo has served a total of 16 years in prison over the course of more than three decades, including a 12-year sentence, on vague political allegations. A former monk at the Drepung Monastery, Sonam Gyalpo was among 21 monks who initiated the popular political demonstration in Lhasa on 27 September 1987. Sonam Gyalpo was detained on 28 August 2005 by a group of Chinese State Security Bureau officers from his home in Lhasa. He was among ten Tibetans detained during the run-up to the 40th founding anniversary celebration of the Tibet Autonomous Region, an important political anniversary for the Chinese authorities.
- Sentencing Court
- Intermediate People's Court
- Length of Sentence
- 12 Years
- Status of Detention
- Released: Upon completion of sentence
- Comments
A former monk at the Drepung Monastery, Sonam Gyalpo was among 21 monks who initiated the popular political demonstration in Lhasa on 27 September 1987. He was then charged with “counter-revolutionary” activities and imprisoned for three years in the notorious Drapchi Prison. Thereafter, in 1993 he was detained for a period of one year in Shigatse Nyari Detention Centre and Sangyip Prison in Lhasa serving six months in both.
- Published
- Published
- Is the Prisoner Deceased?
- Yes