News and Views on Tibet

China detains five Tibetans for performing song about Dalai Lama

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Five Tibetans detained over song for Dalai Lama (Photo/TCHRD)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, Oct. 16: Chinese authorities in the so called Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture has reportedly detained five Tibetan men on Thursday for merely performing a song about the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, according to the research group Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy. The local Chinese police detained the group for participating in a musical contest on the popular Chinese video sharing platform Kuaishou.

Singer Derab was among the five who were detained, but the identities of the other four men are not known yet. The translated verse from the censored song read, “Noble Lama was born in Tibet / Performed virtuous deeds in foreign lands / Loving and compassionate Lama / Pray for his swift return.” After a day of extensive questioning, four of the detained were released except for one unidentified musician and composer.

Subsequently, Derab has been indefinitely banned from taking part in any contests and was forced to sign a pledge that he would refrain from performing at any festivals or gatherings. From now on, Derab has to take permission from the authorities if he ever plans on going live on any virtual platforms. The source said that this contest was shut down midway by the Chinese censors, “Usually one could do live streaming for 24 hours without any time limits. Because Derab sang this song about lagya [Tibetan national pride], the live streaming was cut off after about an hour and a half.”

The video platform Kuaishou is known to have a team of 2000 employees to censor users who violate the regulations set by the Chinese government. The Dharamshala-based rights group called for an immediate release of the unidentified composer and condemned the arbitrary detention of the five men. “Kuaishou must refrain from violating the right to freedom of expression of its users and censoring user contents on its platform. Both companies and government regulators have the obligation not to jeopardize the human rights of online users,” TCHRD demanded.

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