Sister of the imprisoned Tibetan businessman stages protest despite warning

By Tenzin Nyidon

DHARAMSHALA, May 12: Gonpo Kyi, the sister of the imprisoned Tibetan businessman Dorjee Tashi resumed her protest in front of the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court despite being ‘warned’ and ‘threatened’ to arrest by the Chinese police, according to footage obtained by Radio Free Asia on Thursday. In the footage, she can be seen dragged by two police personnel from the protest site. 

On March 20, Kyi was detained and tortured by the Chinese police when she went to the prison to plead for her brother’s release and suffered injuries on her upper arms. On April 26, Kyi and her husband staged a sit-in protest outside the People’s Court. The police personnel arriving at the site covered Kyi with a large black cloth as they took her away, according to the footage uploaded by RFA. Kyi and her husband were later held in detention for two nights where the pair were beaten and tortured for staging a sit-in protest. 

“The Chinese authorities are planning to imprison us but we are also ready to go to prison to protect my brother even if it costs our lives,” she is seen saying in the video, adding that she has the right to appeal for her brother’s release under the law. Kyi along with her other brother Dorje Tsetan and her husband have earlier staged similar protests outside people’s court in December 2022 and in June 2022 outside another court, advocating for an immediate release of her imprisoned brother.

The millionaire hotelier once known for his philanthropic activities was detained after the 2008 Tibetan Uprising protest in Lhasa, on the grounds of making suspicious donations to the exiled Tibetan community as his alleged support for the movement, which he later denied. In 2010, he was put on trial at Lhasa court where the police charges were dropped but was sentenced to life imprisonment in Drapchi prison in Lhasa for ‘loan fraud’. According to tibet.net, the official website of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) in 2021 reported of Dorjee’s deteriorating health due to the prolonged torture suffered by the Chinese authorities. 

Following his sentence, the family members filed their first appeal in 2013 which did not receive any response for six years, only to be rejected in November 2019. Another appeal was made the following month which gave way for their family’s lawyer Wang Fei to meet Dorje in Lhasa prison in January 2021. It is also reported by Tibet Watch that Dorjee Tashi’s family had a last virtual meeting in December 2021 but no physical visit has been permitted since 2021.