DHARAMSHALA: Chinese authorities have sentenced Jamphel Gyatso, a young Tibetan monk from Kirti Monastery in Ngaba, to three years imprisonment for staging a lone protest against the Chinese government last year, according to media reports.

His family members learned about the verdict only on 1 August, as they were not given the opportunity to attend the hearing or hire a lawyer to present his case, sources close to the family confided to media agencies in exile. There is no information about his current health conditions, only that he is being held in a prison in Maowun [Mao] county, about 350 kilometers from the Ngaba county seat.

Jamphel Gyatso was detained in September 2015 after he staged a lone protest on Dzongkar Street in Ngaba County. He carried a huge portrait of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on his head during the protest and shouted slogans calling for His His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s return to Tibet and freedom for Tibetans. Click here.

He is a monk from Kirti monastery, and is the son of Surya and Taray Kyi. His family lives in Meuruma town in Ngaba County.