Four Tibetans detained after authorities step up mobile phone checks

Location of Serthar, also known as Serta county, in Sichuan Province. Image source: Wikipedia user Croquant

Chinese authorities have arbitrarily arrested four Tibetans while digitally investigating individual mobile phones in eastern Tibet. 

The phones were thoroughly searched for photos of the Dalai Lama and checked for contact records with Tibetans who are living in exile, which the Chinese government labels as being ‘politically sensitive’. 

On 4 July 2021, Public Security Bureau (PSB) in Dartsang Township in Serthar County carried out an investigative campaign in the area and searched individual mobile phones of local Tibetans through phone numbers that had been registered with identity cards. The records of identity cards and linked phone numbers are kept at the local security department. During the search operation, the PSB arrested four Tibetans, including a local village leader, under suspicion of possessing ‘politically sensitive’ content. But currently, the names of the detainees and their whereabouts remain unknown.

"They were arrested under suspicion for keeping the Dalai Lama's photos in their mobile phones. In fact, they did nothing criminal and their family members are not losing hopes and waiting for them to be released soon", a source told Tibet Watch on a condition of anonymity.

Interrogations after Dalai Lama portrait found

On 3 July, three uniformed police officers from the PSB entered Jangchup Gayphel Monastery in Dartsang Township and conducted a search operation in the prayer hall. On finding a portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the altar of the hall, the officers immediately confiscated it and summoned all of the heads of the monastery and concerned monks to the local police station for interrogation.

Restrictions across Tibet have increased during July, during which time the centenary anniversary of the CCP’s founding is being celebrated. Authorities in Serthar County "prohibited any civil gatherings/ festivals or monastic prayers and religious events" in the month of July except for the state-oriented arrangements and events. 

The restrictions in July were in addition to the Chinese government’s campaigns in July every year to prevent any expression of celebration of the birthday of His Holiness the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, which falls on 6 July. There have been repeated crackdowns on Tibetans in the past for just celebrating this revered occasion.

A series of arrests in Serthar County

Serthar County, located in eastern Tibet, has witnessed a series of arrests in recent months including Gangkye Drupa Kyab, a writer and vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party, who also worked as a teacher in Dartsang and Horshul Township before moving to Drango county. He was previously imprisoned for five years and six months in August 2013. Choenyi Woeser, a childhood friend of his, told Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, of the local community’s respect for him as a conscientious individual with great love and respect for Tibetan culture and language. In his poem entitled Tears of the Past, translated by TCHRD, Gangkye (meaning snow-born in Tibetan) writes:

“The history of the Snow-landers

When I think of it now, all I get is tears,

No moments of joy occur in our hearts,

When all we do now is swallow tears”

- Gangkye Drupa Kyab

Tibetans call Tibet the land/abode of snow and therefore by extension Tibetans also refer to themselves as snow-landers. The reference for snow is found in songs as well as prayers. A widely known prayer verse, recited by Tibetans at the end of prayer sessions goes:

“In the land encircled by a ring of snow mountains

Is the source of all good and happiness

All-knowing Chenresig, Tenzin Gyatso (given name of Dalai Lama)

May you remain until the end of samsara”

Eastern Tibet is known for its nomadic heritage and for being the birthplace of Tibetan intellectuals from various fields of Tibetan studies. It became the centre of self-immolations after the 2008 Uprising.