Free Thabkey Gyatso and Tsultrim Gyatso

Thabkey Gyatso (centre)  and Tsultrim Gyatso, monks from Labrang monastery, were arrested along with six other monks for protesting in front of journalists during the spring protests of 2008. The monks disrupted an official media visit to Labrang Monastry; the first time journalists had been allowed into the region since protests broke out in March. The monks spoke of their lack of human rights and desire for freedom and were both photographed and interviewed by the journalists, ensuring their protest was seen and heard throughout the world.

On 9 April 2008 Thabkey and Tsultrim were two of a about a dozen monks who disrupted an official media visit to Labrang Monastery which the Government had organised. When the journalists reached Labrang Monastery the monks jumped in front of the cameras and spoke about the lack of human rights and their desire for freedom. The monks defied their own fears and face the consequences of their action. Thabkey, 30, was arrested and beaten so severely in detention that his mental health has been seriously affected. It is assumed that he suffered blows to his head during his detention.

Thabkey and Tsultrim were denied their choice of legal representation, chinese lawyers Li Fangping and Jiang Tianyong, who had been involved in securing the release of Jigme Gyatso. Li Fangping had been approached by the monks' families to represent them, and travelled to meet the defendants but was denied access, being told that they had already been appointed another lawyer. Instead, the monks were sentenced in a closed trial on May 21 2009. Tsultrim was sentenced to life imprisonment for the crime of 'splitting the nation' while Thabkey received a 15 year term for 'incitement to split the nation'. Both appealed the court's decision and are currently being held at Gansu Province state security department detention centre.

Lawyers had also raised concerns that the monks had been denied contact with their families for over a year as they awaited trial. Furthermore, it was reported that their families were not told about the court trial, in violation of chinese legal procedures, and that the families were worried about the well being of their sons as they had not seen them since their arrest, and because Thabkey was reported to have been suffering from severe appendicitis for which he had to be moved from the detention centre to Tsoe Government hospital. Even in hospital, his family were denied access to visit him.

Jamyang Jinpa, one of the monks who took part in the Labrang press tour protest, and who has now escaped to India, recalled the events: "From a Radio Free Asia Amdo-dialect broadcast we came to know that foreign and chinese journalists were visiting Labrang Monastery at the time. Some of us felt it was a rare opportunity to tell the world about Tibet's situation. We wanted to speak out to correct the distorted information being propagated by chinese government on Tibet to the outside world, We simply shouted for the Dalai Lama%u2019s return to Tibet. We told visiting journalists that there was no respect for human rights and freedom in Tibet under chinese rule... What has been happening in Tibet from last year is a spontaneous outcome of deep rooted resentment Tibetan people have had against the chinese government. No one was there to tell us to protest. Situation alone compelled us to come out on the street."