Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Oct. 29: In a newly surfaced video circulating on X (formerly Twitter), Gonpo Kyi is seen staging another peaceful protest on October 26 outside the High People’s Court of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in Lhasa, demanding justice for her imprisoned brother Dorje Tashi. She is calling for a review of his life sentence, a retrial, and the right to visit him in prison.
For years, Gonpo Kyi has led a sustained campaign for her brother, staging solo protests, sit-ins, prayer vigils, and hunger strikes outside government offices, police stations, and courts in Lhasa.
Dorje Tashi, once a prominent Tibetan businessman, was arrested in the aftermath of the 2008 protests in occupied Tibet and reportedly subjected to months of torture in detention. In 2010, following a closed-door trial at the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court, he was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of loan fraud, which his supporters maintain were politically motivated. His brother, Dorje Tseten, was sentenced to six years in prison in the same case and was subsequently released.
Since Dorje Tashi’s imprisonment, his family has repeatedly sought judicial review through various legal channels. In 2020, Chinese authorities rejected appeals filed by his lawyer and relatives seeking reconsideration of his conviction. Between 2023 and 2024, Gonpo Kyi, her husband Choekyong, and her brother Dorje Tseten staged more than seven hunger strikes and prayer protests outside government offices and courts in Lhasa, pressing for a review of the sentence and permission for family visits.
Gonpo Kyi and her family have reportedly faced repeated physical assaults, police beatings, interrogations, and both short- and long-term detentions by Chinese authorities in connection with their campaign.
On August 20, 2025, after being denied permission to visit her brother and reportedly placed under hotel arrest at the Yak Hotel in Lhasa, Gonpo Kyi jumped from the hotel’s second floor in an apparent suicide attempt. She sustained serious injuries and was left in critical condition.
The case has also drawn international attention. Both the United States and the European Union have raised concerns over Dorje Tashi’s imprisonment. In a statement delivered during the 51st session of the UN Human Rights Council, held from September 12 to October 7, 2022, the European Union called for the immediate and unconditional release of several individuals, including Dorje Tashi.
The US Department of State also documented Dorje Tashi’s detention in its 2021 and 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on China, highlighting the case in its reporting on human rights conditions in the country.
