By: Daniel McElroy

Gonpo Tenzin, a popular singer known especially among young Tibetans for his Tibetan-language music promoting unity and self-determination, has been released from prison after serving his full three-and-a-half year sentence. First arrested in Lhasa in 2013, Tenzin was sentenced in April 2015 on charges of “inciting separatism”.

Tenzin’s music, always political in nature, is part of a wider independence movement that gained traction with massive protests across Chinese-occupied Tibet (and other Tibetan-populated Chinese provinces including Sichuan and Qinghai) in 2008. This protest movement also brought on a heavy-handed crackdown by Beijing, which has become increasingly less tolerant of Tibetan art and culture over the past 10 years. Tenzin is one of many artists to have been detained, tried, and convicted for promoting Tibetan identity over the last decade.

Tenzin joins Achok Phulshung, Pema Thinley, Chakdor, Pema Rigzin, Kalsang Yarphel, and Lolo in gaining his freedom, but at least four other artists remain imprisoned. Please join us in using your voice to speak up on behalf of Shawo Tashi, Choksal, Trinley Tsekar, and Topden as part of our Free the Artists of Tibet campaign.