Tibetan monk arrested for publishing books on Tibet from exiled authors

A Tibetan Buddhist monk was arrested by Chinese police in June 2023 on charges of republishing books from the exiled Tibetan community and for contacting people outside the region, Radio Free Asia has learned.

The whereabouts of Lobsang Thabkhey, 54, who served as librarian of Kirti Monastery in Ngaba county in southwest China’s Sichuan province, remain unknown, two sources inside Tibet said on condition of anonymity for safety reasons.

Thabkhey, had been summoned several times by Chinese police before his arrest for questioning, one of the sources told RFA.

“The primary charge that was leveled against him was that he had published and disseminated books that had origins in the Tibetan exiled community while he was in charge of the library at Kirti monastery and he communicated with people outside Tibet,” another source said.

Chinese authorities consider it illegal for Tibetans inside Tibet to contact people outside the region and engage with the exiled Tibetan community or the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who China considers a “separatist.”