Dharamshala – The Chinese authorities arrested a Tibetan woman Gonpokyi and her husband Choekyong on Tuesday as they peacefully demonstrated outside of a Chinese court in Lhasa to demand justice for Gonpokyi's brother, Tashi Dorjee, a Tibetan businessman wrongly sentenced to life imprisonment by Chinese authorities.
According to reliable source, Gonpo Kyi and Choekyong demonstrated a peaceful protest to demand justice for their imprisoned brother, Tashi Dorjee, in front of the so called “the Tibet Autonomous Region Higher People's Court” on December 13, 2023. But Chinese police came and detained them when they saw that, they were protesting, even though it was a peaceful protest, by standing there and holding a banner reading “justice for Tashi Dorjee.
Gonpo Kyi had already staged several sit-ins outside the court to protest against the unjust sentencing of Tashi Dorjee to life imprisonment in 2010 and release of her brother. Sometimes she was beaten, sometimes she was detained for a day by the Chinese police, but this time she was detained with her husband and could not know where they were being held or what their state of health was, due to the strict control exercised over the flow of information from Tibet to the outside world.
Dorjee Tashi was arrested in July 2008, shortly after the spring 2008 Tibet-wide protests against the Chinese regime. He was initially accused of supporting the Tibetan protesters, but was later sentenced to life imprisonment on trumped-up charges of financial fraud, which were denied by members of his family.
2023 Tenzin Delek Rinpoche's Medal of Courage was awarded to Dorjee Tashi, a famous Tibetan businessman and Tibetan political prisoner, and his sister Gonpo Kyi.
