Három embert letartóztattak Khamban a WeChat miatt a Nobel-díj megemlékezés előtt

2019. december 18./Phayul.com/TibetPress

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By Tenzin Dharpo

DHARAMSHALA, Dec. 18: Three Tibetans have reportedly been detained days ahead of the 10th December Nobel Peace Prize commemorations after their private communications with friends and family outside occupied Tibet via Wechat were put under surveillance by Chinese authorities.

According to rights group International Campaigns for Tibet, the arrests were due to tightened security and surveillance of the social media platform WeChat, a Chinese micro messaging application widely used by Tibetans, around the 30th anniversary of the Dalai Lama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize.

ICT which cited an anonymous source said that two among the three detained were identified as Tsegan, in his mid-30s; Lubum Dorjee, who has been deaf from birth and became an artist. The third person is not identified yet. They were detained in Ri’ngon in Gangya township in Sangchu county in Gansu Province.

Their current whereabouts and conditions could not be ascertained due to intense lockdown of the region by China.

Since March this year, Chinese authorities in Kanlho imposed a cyber restriction directive where they said “extra efforts will be added in terms of monitoring and managing WeChat groups…If any WeChat group members publish any illegal information against the laws, he or she will be sentenced to [between] one and eight years in prison, and the same thing will be done to the WeChat group organizer.”

The Washington based group said that such blatant government laws are “criminalising ordinary behaviour”. “Such opaque language can be used by Chinese authorities to define as a “crime” almost any expression of Tibetan cultural or religious identity, reference to the Dalai Lama or his teachings, or mild statement of opinion,” ICT said.

Beijing’s ban on global messenger apps and the general internet censorship in Tibet compel most to resort to WeChat, the world’s largest standalone messaging app operated by the Chinese company Tencent.

Tenzin Dalha, a research fellow at the Tibet Policy Institute in his article "How WeChat Conquered" wrote that 70 Percent of Tibetans in the diaspora use the application. “Overseas Tibetans or anyone with family or relationships associated with Tibet tend to download the messaging app to stay in touch since other global social media applications are banned in the region.”

The Central Tibetan Administration’s President Dr Lobsang Sangay has repeatedly advised Tibetans to not use WeChat for communication.