A reliable source informed that Thupten Lodoe was arrested in October last year by Sichuan provincial police authorities, taken away to Chengdu city, and only seven months later, on either 13 or 14 June, he was handed prison sentence on suspicion of writing posts of political nature on social media such as Weibo and QQ. His family remains under surveillance, while his two children have also been ordered to stay home and barred from joining school.

It is not known where he was held since his arrest, nor if the court informed his family about the trial. However, the charges of “separatism” are known to be routinely used against many Tibetan writers and scholars. Lodoe’s short stories and essays are loved by many readers inside Tibet and posted on various Tibetan language websites and literature platforms in Tibet.

Thupten Lodoe, in his 30s, hails from Bum-nying village (འབུམ་རྙིང་སྡེ་བ།) in Sershul County (སེར་ཤུལ་རྫོང་།) in Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. He taught Tibetan language class at Sershul County Middle School for years until he quit his teaching position due to Chinese government’s repression.