On 1st August, yesterday Gonpo Kyi, the sister of reputed Tibetan political prisoner Dorjee Tashi, again protested peacefully by prostration, requesting to meet her brother. She wanted to meet him in person in front of the Drapchi prison in Lhasa, Tibetan Autonomous Region. Instead, Chinese police officers physically mistreated her and then coerced her to return to her residence.
As per the information received to the Tibet Times, During Gonpo Kyi’s peaceful protest of prostration, the Lhasa city police officers claimed that the prostration was against the law and beat her physically. She was removed by force and then later released to her home.
Yesterday during her prostration in front of Drapchi prison, Gonpo Kyi stated that individuals have the right to meet prisoners under the Chinese Constitution. For this reason, she pleaded to allow her to meet her brother Dorjee Tashi, but Chinese Police officers denied her request, and she was physically beaten.
Dorjee Tashi is the owner of the Yak Hotel in Lhasa. In 2008, after months of large-scale peaceful protest during the Earth-Mouse year, the Chinese government accused him of supporting protesters and sending monetary donations to His Holiness. He was then arrested and sentenced to eight months in jail. No one knows of his whereabouts. His brother Dorjee Tsedan was also arrested without evidence on May 17th, 2010. After being detained for two years, the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court secretly accused him of defaulting on 150,000 Yuan loan and a life sentence was given to Dorjee Tashi. His brother Dorjee Tsedan was given a six-year sentence and imprisoned in the largest prison of the Tibetan autonomous region, the Drapchi prison, as a threat to national security.
Dorjee Tashi, the wealthy Tibetan entrepreneur, has never pleaded guilty, and in 2020, ten years after his imprisonment, his family and lawyers repeatedly appealed for a retrial. However, their pleas have not been heard. Since October last year, his sister Gonpo Kyi and Dorjee Tsedan have held peaceful protests spontaneously in front of the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court. Police officers repeatedly have interrogated and threatened them to discourage future protests by them or any Tibetans.
