Case Background
Kunchok Tsephel, born in 1970, is a prominent Internet writer and co-founder and editor of the Tibetan-language website Chomei (Butter Lamp), which promotes Tibetan culture and literature. The website, created by Kunchok Tsephel and leading Tibetan poet Kyabchen Dedrol in 2005, features both classical and contemporary Tibetan writing, and was the first ever Tibetan literary website. At the time of his arrest Kunchok Tsephel was working as an environmental officer for the Chinese government.
On February 26, 2009, Kunchok Tsephel was arrested by Chinese security officials at his home in the town of Nyul-ra, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. At the time of his arrest, his house was searched and his computer confiscated. He was held incommunicado at an undisclosed location until November 12, 2009, when the Intermediate People’s Court of Kanlho sentenced him to 15 years in prison for “disclosing state secrets” in a closed hearing. As a result of the political sensitivity, lack of due process, and general obscurity surrounding cases concerning “state secrets,” the precise reason for his arrest and the harsh sentence against him is still not known. According to the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy, he experienced health issues while imprisoned, including pain in his hips and legs, but his family was not permitted to provide him traditional Tibetan medicine. Family visits were also limited to once every two months and had to be conducted in Chinese.
On March 18, 2022, Kunchok Tsephel was released from prison after serving 13 years of his 15-year sentence on the charge of “disclosing state secrets.” He was reportedly released two years before the expiration of his sentence for “good behavior,” after he saved the life of another person in prison. He remains subject to four years of ‘deprivation of political rights,’ consisting of government surveillance and restrictions on his movement and activities.