Case Background
Dolma Kyab (pen name: Lobsang Kelsang Gyatso) is a Tibetan writer and scholar, who, prior to his arrest, was working on a manuscript written in Chinese titled Sao dong de Ximalayashan (The Restless Himalayas). Across 57 chapters, he wrote on topics like democracy, the sovereignty of Tibet, Tibet under communism, colonialism, and religion. Alongside The Restless Himalayas, he was also writing about the geography of Tibet, including the sensitive issue of the location and number of Chinese military camps in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
On March 9, 2005, when he was 29 years old, Dolma Kyab was arrested in Lhasa at the middle school where he taught history and taken to the Tibet Autonomous Region Public Security Bureau Detention Center, popularly known as Seitru in Tibetan. He was held pending trial at Seitru on charges of “endangering state security,” and on September 16, 2005, he was convicted and sentenced to 10.5 years in prison by the Lhasa People’s Intermediate Court for The Restless Himalayas. A subsequent appeal made by his family was rejected on November 30, 2005, and the 10.5-year sentence was upheld.
In 2006, he was moved to Chushul Prison, following treatment for tuberculosis contracted during his detention. After riots and protests broke out in Lhasa in March 2008, he was transferred out of Chushul Prison after which point his whereabouts were unknown until he was released in October 2015.
During his imprisonment, he was honored with multiple awards, including the 2009 Human Rights Watch Helman/Hammett award and the 2012 Liu Xiaobo Courage to Write Award, which is organized by the Independent Chinese PEN Centre. Organizations like the International Campaign for Tibet, Tibetan Writers Abroad Centre, and PEN International campaigned for his release.