Lobsang Namgyal wrote a volume of poetry critical of the way the Tibetan people lives under Chinese rule. Arrested a first time in 2008 after the riots in Lhasa, he went missing on 15 May 2012. The authorities failed to notify his family of his arrest.

Chengdu (AsiaNews) - The authorities in China's Sichuan Province arrested on Lobsang Namgyal on May 15 2012 without notifying anyone. The 26-years-old Tibetan poet had published a book of poetry under the pseudonym Sangmig ("secret Eye") in which he criticised the state in which the Tibetan people is forced to live under Chinese rule.

For months, his family looked for him everywhere without getting any information. Eventually, the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy confirmed that he was being detained.

The poet had spent a year in prison in 2008, when he was arrested during a crackdown ordered by the central government after riots broke out in Lhasa before the Beijing Olympics.

Now, anonymous sources say, he fears that he will receive a new and heavier sentence since he has been denied legal representation.

According to the initial charges against him, he handed out speeches of the Dalai Lama, which are banned in China, and other "political contents" in favour of Tibet's independence.

So far, the authorities have not yet allowed his family to see him.

 

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• tibet
• poet
• arrest
• missing
• jail