Public security officials in a Tibetan region of China ‘s western Sichuan province arrested Rangjung, a television journalist and writer, according to an Indian-based Tibetan rights group and Radio Free Asia (RFA). Rangjung is known by one name.
Officials of Seda county–known as Serthar in Tibetan–detained Rangjung in his home, according to Tashi Choephel Jamatsang, a researcher for the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, based in India . The group learned of the arrest from Rangjung’s relatives in Sichuan and Tibet , Tashi Choephel told CPJ by e-mail. In a report citing unnamed local sources as well as an exiled Tibetan, RFA said police confiscated his laptop at the time of his detention.
Chinese officials did not acknowledge the detention, and the journalist’s whereabouts were unclear in late year, according to Tashi Choephel and RFA. RFA reported that police told Rangjung’s family he was being held at the Kardze prefectural detention center, but CPJ could not independently confirm his location.
Rangjung, a Tibetan-language news presenter for the local station in Seda county, is also a writer and singer, according to the reports. Tashi Choephel told CPJ that Rangjung had posted numerous articles and poems on his Tibetan-language blog that were potentially sensitive. “He is bold enough to have covered topics that others are not ready to express openly under such a repressive environment,” he told CPJ by e-mail.
Rangjung participated in protests against Chinese rule that swept Tibetan regions after rioting broke out in Lhasa in March, according to RFA and reports posted on pro-Tibetan Web sites.