China sends Tibetan singer to labour camp, report says

Mar 8, 2010, 12:08 GMT

Beijing - Chinese authorities sentenced a popular Tibetan singer to 15 months of 're-education through labour' after he released an album containing lyrics that were deemed political, US-based Radio Free Asia said Monday.

The broadcaster said it obtained a copy of a document declaring that Tashi Dhondup was sent to a labour camp in his home province of Qinghai, because he had 'violated laws' by singing songs in support of Tibetan independence and spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

The written notice of the decision, handed down by the committee for re-education through labour of Qinghai's Yulgan county, said that Tashi Dhondup, 30, was detained in December for 'separatist activities' and sentenced in January, according to the report.

Police had warned the singer earlier last year to stop performing the title 1958, which referred to an unsuccessful Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule, according to the document.

But he continued to sing the song and was detained after he and friends distributed thousands of CDs of his album Torture Without Marks at markets in Tibetan areas of Qinghai and neighbouring provinces.

'These songs were fabricated and contained serious provocative themes,' the broadcaster quoted the labour re-education committee as saying.

'The person who composed the lyrics and tune escaped, but Tashi Dhondup sang the songs, made copies, and distributed them,' the committee said.

Local police contacted by telephone on Monday said they had no knowledge of the case.

Sentences to labour camps are known as administrative, and are normally dictated by local judicial committees without any court hearing. They are often used to silence dissidents, rights activists and religious activists, as well as for minor criminals.

Tashi Dhondup is an ethnic Mongol from Yulgan county, which is part of Qinghai's Huangnan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Tibetan Buddhism is the main religion of Mongolians in China and in the independent nation of Mongolia.