Dharamshala — Sources coming from Tibet have said that Tibetan writer Shokjang has been released from prison after serving a three year sentence based on his writing.
According to sources in Tibet, Druklo, who is most commonly known by his pen name Shokjang, was released from prison in accordance with his sentence on March 19, 2018. He has allegedly been returned to his hometown Gengya village in Labrang (Chinese: Xiahe) county, in the Amdo region of Tibet.
Shokjang was originally detained by police in Rebkong, Qinghai, on March 19, 2015 and ultimately sentenced to three years in prison on charges of 'inciting separatism' and 'disturbing social stability,' though though Shokjang has continuously maintained his innocence.
Shokjang wrote a letter from prison, saying: "I am a Chinese citizen, and as a Tibetan intellectual, I have to be concerned for the precious lives of my own kin. If doing so is called ‘inciting separatism’, nothing is more laughable… If one talks about inciting separatism, I have not written even a word of separatism, much less instigated it. If I write about an incident in which I suffered harm, and that becomes an unfounded accusation against me, and I write an appeal to the court about the incident, that does not make me a separatist."
Shokjang was first arrested in April 2010, along with another writer Theurang, for their writing regarding the 2008 protests in Tibet, and Chinese violent suppression of Tibetan protesters. Theurang (also known as Tashi Rabten) was sentenced to four years, while Shokjang was released after over a month of detention during which he was subjected to interrogations and torture.
Many Tibetans, including monks have been arrested and jailed in recent years for circulating information about protests and cases of self-immolation. More than 50 Tibetan dissents, including writers, bloggers, singers and environmentalists, have been detained or are imprisoned, mostly after sharing views or information about conditions in their homeland.
Chinese authorities barred foreign journalists from visiting Tibet after that March 2008 peaceful protests. Since then the regime has imposed severe restrictions on internet and phone connections by increasing a wider crackdown on communications across Tibet in an attempt to prevent any news reaching the outside world.
In Tibet today, Tibetans are being arbitrarily arrested, imprisoned and tortured for merely expressing their suffering under Chinese rule. However, authorities in Beijing still claim that "China 'peacefully liberated' Tibet, and that the "Tibetans are living in a Maoist socialist paradise."
Reporters Without Borders ranks China 175 out of 180 countries, for freedom of the press and Amnesty International calls China an "authoritarian state" as do the U.S. and EU.
Communist China began running Tibet after the military invasion of Tibet in 1949, assuring that freedom of Tibetan people would be respected. But Tibetans say the dictatorship government led by Mao— known as one of the most deadly mass killings of human history, went back on his word, forcing His Holiness the Dalai Lama to flee Tibet in 1959, destroying more than 6000 monasteries and temples and killing over 1.2 million Tibetans, out of a total of 6 million. Since then, Tibetans have launched an international campaign against the "occupying" China's authoritarian state that continues to face criticism for human rights violations in suppressing the people of Tibet.