We are pleased to announce that since this story was broad­cast, Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup has been released from prison.
Read the story at High Peaks, Pure Earth.

The back­ground

A pop­u­lar singer in Amdo, Tashi Dhondup became well known for his song “1958 - 2008″ that com­pares two “ter­ri­fy­ing” peri­ods for Tibetans. This song spread amongst Tibetans via the inter­net and mobile phones.

The pain that there is no freedom in the land of Tibet. The pain that the heritage of our ancestors has been taken away.

—Tashi Dhondup

Tashi Dhondup had been detained in September 2008, accord­ing to the Tibetan sources, and accused by author­i­ties of includ­ing “counter-​​revolutionary con­tent” in a song enti­tled “The Year of 1959,” the year of the Lhasa Uprising and the Dalai Lama’s flight into exile. International Campaign for Tibet reported that He was detained and beaten for over seven days by police. The 32-​​year-​​old was released in February 2009. Then he released ano album in October 2009. called ‘Torture Without Wounds or Torture with­out a Trace depend­ing on the trans­la­tion. It con­tains lyrics that express his pain over the sit­u­a­tion in Tibet. For instance: “The pain that there is no free­dom in the land of Tibet. The pain that the her­itage of our ances­tors has been taken away.” Another song expresses the widely held desire of the Tibetan peo­ple for the Dalai Lama to return home: The album was banned, but not before thou­sands of copies were sold.

Tashi Dhondup was again detained by Chinese author­i­ties on December 3, 2009. He was sen­tenced in January 2010 to 15 months of “re-​​education through labor” in Qinghai Province. As we’ve been report­ing in our series Creative Response, artists and writ­ers have been at increased risk in the ongo­ing crack­down that has fol­lowed the Tibetan protests that began on March 10, 2008, in Lhasa and spread across the Tibetan plateau. Yet it appears that more and more Tibetans are inspired by the non-​​confrontational resis­tance that the arts pro­vide. Chinese author­i­ties are con­tin­u­ing to arrest those pub­lish­ing lit­er­a­ture, writ­ing songs and blog­ging on the inter­net their feel­ings and expe­ri­ences of Chinese occupation.

How to help — addresses to send letters:

President Hu Jintao
Guojia Zhuxi
Beijing
People’s Republic of China

Premier Wen Jiabao
Guowuyuan
No. 9 Xihuang-​​chenggen Beijie
Beijingshi 100032
People’s Republic of China

Wu Aiying
Minister of Justice
No. 10 Chaoyangmen Nandajie
Chaoyangqu
Beijingshi 100020
People’s Republic of China
TEL: (+86) 10 6520 6706
TEL: (+86) 10 8313 9065
Email: pfmaster@legalinfo.gov.ch
Email: minister@legalinfo.gov.cn

In the United States:
Ambassador Mr. Zhou Wenzhoung
The Chinese Embassy
3505 International Place, NW, Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel Operator: +1 (202) 495-​​2000
E-​​mail: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn