Chinese authorities have sentenced two senior Tibetan monastic leaders—Abbot Sherab and monastery administrator Gonpo of Yena Monastery in Dege County, eastern Tibet—to four and three years in prison respectively, according to sources cited by Radio Free Asia. The sentencing follows their involvement in rare public protests earlier this year against the controversial Gangtuo Hydropower Project on the upper reaches of the Drichu (Yangtze) River.
Abbot Sherab garnered international attention after a video circulated showing him making a traditional Tibetan gesture of supplication—both thumbs raised—while pleading with Chinese officials on February 20, 2024, to halt the dam project. He was joined by monks and lay Tibetans who cried out in anguish, imploring authorities to reconsider the project that threatens to displace entire communities and submerge centuries-old monasteries.
Though the exact date of the sentencing remains unclear, RFA sources report that Gonpo is currently in critical condition due to torture suffered in detention and has been transferred to the intensive care unit at West China Hospital in Chengdu.
The Gangtuo dam project, part of a state-backed hydropower initiative, has triggered widespread alarm among Tibetans for its potential to submerge at least six monasteries and two villages in the culturally significant Kham region. Monasteries such as Yena and Wonto serve as vital centers of Tibetan spiritual and cultural life and have stood for generations.
Mass protests erupted on February 14, 2024, with hundreds of Tibetans—many of them monks—kneeling before Chinese officials in a desperate appeal to stop the forced relocation of villages and the destruction of sacred sites. The protests were met with a sweeping crackdown, including mass detentions and reports of brutal interrogations.
Tibetan civil society organizations and international observers have denounced the project as both ecologically and culturally devastating. NGOs based in Dharamshala warned of irreversible environmental damage and the erasure of indigenous Tibetan identity from their ancestral lands.
In response to the ongoing repression, Central Tibetan Administration President Penpa Tsering, along with a coalition of over 170 Tibet Support Groups from 44 countries, issued a joint appeal calling for the immediate release of more than 1,000 Tibetans detained in connection to the dam protests. The statement was made shortly after the 9th International Conference of Tibet Support Groups concluded in Brussels on February 25, 2024.
The sentencing of Sherab and Gonpo adds to a growing list of Tibetan voices silenced for defending their land, faith, and community. As Beijing moves forward with infrastructure projects under the guise of development, Tibetan resistance continues—often at grave personal cost.
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