Tibetan nomad Lhundup Dorje during the trial in the Golog People’s Intermediate Court, 14 December 2020. Photo/Rights Defenders

Dharamshala: A Chinese court has sentenced a Tibetan nomad from Machin, Golog Prefecture in Tibet earlier this month. Rights Defenders, a Chinese blog site reported on December 14 that Lhundup Dorje was sentenced to a one-year prison term by the Golog Prefecture Intermediate Court on charges of “inciting separatism” for forwarding and posting contents, that China considers illegal, including picture and teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his Weibo and WeChat accounts since 2019.

On February 5, 2019, Lhundhup Dorje reportedly posted a New Year’s greeting video wishing Tibetan government-in-exile staff on his Weibo account, which was clicked 2,383 times. He also shared a 10-second video of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in his friends’ circle on WeChat.

This year on March 11, Lhundup Dorje retweeted a graphic on Weibo containing “Tibetan independence” content. According to Radio Free Asia, it was “slogans calling for Tibetan independence.”

A few months later, on May 3, he posted a message in praise of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, along with a photo of His Holiness as a child on Weibo.

Lhundup Dorje was arrested on July 23 and was held in detention for five months until his sentencing, reported RFA. He has reportedly accepted the charges against him and does not seek to appeal the sentence. His imprisonment term should end in July 2021, although after release, he still faces one year deprivation of political rights. 

Lhundup Dorje, born 7 August 1990, hails from Gangri village, Machen (Ch: Machin) county in Golog (Ch: Guolou) in the traditional Amdo province, incorporated into China’s Qinghai province after the annexation of Tibet.

– Filed by UN, EU & Human Rights Desk/DIIR