Concerns grow over detained Tibetan monk

Tenzin Khenrab’s mother is alone and in worsening health due to the lack of information

Tibet Watch has learned that the Tibetan monk and writer Tenzin Khenrab remains in detention and with no information about his current condition.

A Tibetan buddhist monk holing up a phone Image from REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

Tenzin Khenrab was arrested last year on allegations of keeping a photo of the 89-year-old exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, on his phone and various e-books.

Details of the e-books he had kept are not known, although materials published by the Tibetan exiles, including monasteries, are strictly forbidden. Information produced outside China related to religion has further been censored under a regulation, announced in December 2021, that bans all foreign organisations and individuals from spreading religious content online in China and requires religious organisations and individuals to obtain authorised government license to do so.   

“He has been held in incommunicado [detention] for more than a year,” a source confirmed Tibet Watch, adding that the total information blackout about the well-being or whereabouts since his arrest has caused his 53-year-old mother Phudé - his only family at home - to worry intensely due to which her health condition is worsening.

The source further explained that the restrictions and surveillance measures rolled out in their home county of Nyakchu (ཉག་ཆུ་རྫོང་།) in the Karze region of Kham, eastern Tibet, was the reason why no information about Tenzin Khenrab has surfaced.

Tenzin Khenrab, 29, was previously a student at Wothok (ཨོ་ཐོག་དགོན།) and Lithang monasteries (ལི་ཐང་དགོན།). He is a writer, fluent in both Tibetan and Chinese languages. He hails from the lower Wuthok Village (ཨོ་ཐོག་སྨད་ཐ་སྡེ་བ།) in Nyakchu County (ཉག་ཆུ་རྫོང་།).