Jailed for making financial offerings to Dalai Lama

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD) has condemned the recent sentencing of Lobsang Thapkhey, a former librarian at the Kirti Monastery in Ngaba province of the Tibetan Autonomous Region in China. He has been sentenced for attempting to import and distribute religious and cultural books from India to Tibet and for engaging in the Tibetan Buddhist practice of making financial offerings to the Dalai Lama and Kirti Rinpoche, the Tibetan centre for human rights said.

The centre said Lobsang Thapkhey (56), who was arrested in June 2023 and had been missing since then, has recently been sentenced to three years.

Last month, Lobsang Thapkhey’s family received a brief notice informing them that he had been sentenced to three years in prison. However, no details regarding his location and whereabouts were provided and his family was warned against disclosing the verdict publicly, the release said.