Tibetan monk detained again under suspicion of contacts with Tibetans abroad

An undated photo of Kunchok Dakpa in an office at Kirti Monastery, Dharamsala, India

Chinese authorities in Thewo County, Gannan Prefecture, Gansu Province, arbitrarily detained a Tibetan monk in late October this year under the suspicion of having contacts with Tibetans living outside Tibet

A source confirmed with Tibet Watch, “Kunchok Dakpa was arrested at the end of October this year on allegations of communicating with people [Tibetans] living outside Tibet. His current whereabouts and condition remain unknown.”

 The source further explained that Kunchok had been arrested and detained for a few months last year and was subjected to interrogation on the same allegations. Although he was released afterward, the authorities and security personnel have since been keeping him under close watch and have also repeatedly intimidated him.

“Kunchok has never been involved in political activities nor committed any crimes”, he declared.

Kunchok Dakpa had previously studied at Kirti Monastery based in Dharamsala, India, and later returned to Tibet and enrolled in Tashi Monastery (བཀྲ་ཤིས་དགོན།) in Yipa Township (གཡི་པ་ཡུལ་ཚོ།), Thewo County (ཐེ་བོ་རྫོང་།) where he worked as a teacher.