By Phuntsok Yangchen
DHARAMSHALA, January 15: Chinese authorities have released a Tibetan youth on Tuesday, three weeks after he was arrested from the Tibetan capital Lhasa on Dec. 26, and issued strict orders banning him from travelling outside his native village of Thragtse in Dhingri (Tingri) County.
Topgyal, 23, was arrested by Chinese authorities reportedly for possession of a picture of the exile Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other “politically sensitive and banned materials”, a Tibetan source said.
The same source said Topgyal was also accused of making contacts with the “exile Tibetan separatist elements” through WeChat, a Chinese owned micro-messaging service that Tibetan on both sides of the border use widely to connect with families and friends.
On January 12, Topgyal was handed over to authorities in Dhingri County, Shigatse Prefecture of the Tibetan Autonomous Region, and was released the next day without any explanation. He has been warned against travelling outside his village failing which he would land up in jail again.
On January 17, last year, Topgyal’s brother Tsewang Dhonden was arrested for allegedly enrolling as a member of the Tibetan Youth Congress, the largest Tibetan NGO which China calls a “terrorist organization”.
