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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.
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