Lama Adril Lobsang Tsultrim in an undated photo.
DHARAMSHALA, May 17: In two separate incidents, a senior Tibetan lama
and two other Tibetan political prisoners have been released after
serving full five years of their prison terms. Speaking to
Phayul, Jampa Younten, a monk living in south India said Lama Adril
Lobsang Tsultrim of Wonpo Gaden Shedup Dhargyeling Monastery was
released on May 15. “Lama Adril Lobsang Tsultrim was arrested
from Tibet’s capital city Lhasa on March 15, 2008 on charges of sharing
information with outsiders and was detained at Toelung prison for a
year,” Youten said. He was later moved to a prison in Chushul. “On
December 15, 2009, Lama Tsultrim’s students had appealed for his early
release on medical grounds but Chinese authorities rejected the plea and
instead sentenced him to five years in prison,” the source added. Lama
Tsultrim was born in 1944 to Lobsang Ngodup and Lhadro. He was
recognised as the reincarnation of Adril Lama Adril Taggyal at a young
age. In a separate incident, two Tibetan political prisoners,
Lobsang Tenpa and Lobsang Choeden, both monks at the Kardze monastery in
eastern Tibet were released on May 12 at the completion of their prison
terms. The two monks were arrested in connection with the
peaceful protests that erupted in the Kardze region in May 2008. A large
number of local Tibetans, including monks of the Kardze Monastery, had
spilled out on the streets demanding an end to China’s occupation. The two monks were later sentenced to five-year prison terms by the Intermediate People’s Court in Kardze. In
the spring of 2008, thousands of Tibetans rose up in protest against
China’s occupation of Tibet, carrying out peaceful demonstrations on a
massive and unprecedented scale all over the Tibetan plateau. Chinese
authorities responded with a brutal crackdown, leading to the deaths of
over 200 known Tibetans and disappearance of many. Thousands were
arrested and sentenced to lengthy jail terms without due legal process.
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