17 April 2008
Arrests in Qinghai
(RFA) Radio Free Asia reports that five Qinghai Tibetan community leaders have been arrested. All are residents of Machen (Chin:Maqin) county in Golok (Chin:Golog) prefecture, and all are now being held in the provincial capital, Xining. The five are Golog Dape, a popular comedian, leader of the Gangchen performance group, and animal rights activist; Dolma Kyi, a singer, activist, and founder of the folk-music company Gangchen Metok; Palchen Kyab, principal of the private Mayul Dargye school, founded with donations from Tibetan nomads; Lhundrup, Mayul Dargye’s assistant principal; and Sonam Dorje, a teacher. Golok prefecture State Security Bureau officers took the five into custody on 31 March and moved them to Xining. No information on charges against them was available. "No relatives have been allowed to visit them", one source in Qinghai said. Also in Qinghai, according to TCHRD, 100 people, including monks from the Rong Gonchen monastery, were arrested 17 April in Rebkong (Chin:Tongren) county.