Document #1226374
RFA – Radio Free Asia (Author)
Chinese police have detained a young Tibetan man and tortured him in custody after finding photos and audio recordings of speeches by the Dalai Lama on his mobile phone, according to sources Wednesday.
Norgyay, a day laborer from Dingri county in the Tibet Autonomous Region’s Shigatse (in Chinese, Rikaze) prefecture, was seized in the region’s capital Lhasa on Jan. 14 during a random police check on the stored content of mobile phones carried by Tibetans, a source in Nepal with contacts in the area told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“Police found audio teachings and pictures of [exiled spiritual leader] His Holiness the Dalai Lama on Norgyay’s mobile handset, and he was detained,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The audio was of teachings given recently by His Holiness in South India,” he said.
Norgyay, who had shared his photos and recording with others, then vanished until Jan. 22, when it was learned he was being held at a detention center near Lhasa’s Ramoche neighborhood, where he had been taken into custody, the source said.
Norgyay was tortured in detention, a second Tibetan source in Nepal told RFA, also citing local sources and speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Chinese police warned him to sever all connections with outside contacts,” the source added.
Photos banned
Images and recordings of the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, are strictly banned in Tibetan-populated areas of China, and those found in possession of them are treated harshly.Copyright © 1998-2020, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.