I’m happy that my article on the situation faced by musicians and singers in Tibet has been published online. It was commissioned by Freemuse, the leading defender of musicians worldwide and Global Voices for Artsfreedom.org.
One new development that only came to light after the article was published was that China responded to the UN’s February expression of concern about China’s detention of musicians. As reported by Free Tibet yesterday, “China has had to confirm that the musicians have been jailed for “separatist” activities”.
The full response from China is interesting to read, it was sent to the UN at the end of April 2014 but has only just been published by the UN. There is a PDF of the English translation here: https://spdb.ohchr.org/hrdb/26th/China_30.04.14_%281.2014%29.pdf
This is the most new information on musicians we have seen from the Chinese authorities in a long time so it’s worth re-publishing their response on a few of the singers here:
- Lolo, originally known as Luo Xiang, is a man of 31 years of age. He is a villager from the First Commune, Dhomda village, Chengduo County, Yushu, Qinghai Province. On the 26th of February, 2013, he was sentenced to six years in prison by the judicial organ on a charge of seditiously splitting the state with three years’ deprivation of political rights. At present, Luo is in the process of serving his prison sentence.
- Pema Trinley is a Tibetan man of 24 years of age. He originates from the Malma, Aba County, Sichuan Province. Chakdor, also known as Xuegduo, is a Tibetan man of 32 years of age. He originates from the Malma, Aba County, Sichuang Province. On the 3rd of February, 2013, these two people were sentenced to four years in prison by the judicial organ on a charge of seditiously splitting the state with three years’ deprivation of political rights. At present, these two people are in the process of serving their respective prison sentences.
Free Tibet have on online petition for Tibet’s Jailed Musicians so please support their campaign here: http://freetibet.org/petitions/1742
You can also keep up to date with the Banned Expression campaign by Liking this Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/freespeechtibet
As many of you already know, the High Peaks Pure Earth weekly music video series is still going strong so please visit us there every Wednesday!
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