Chinese security personnel re-arrested Tenpa Gyatso, the former abbot of Ragya Monastery in Domey (Amdo), earlier this year. He was recently sentenced to five years in prison and has been placed in a prison in Xining.

According to a well-informed source inside Tibet, security personnel from the Machen County Public Security Bureau in Golok detained him on 5 August 2026, during the monastery’s summer retreat (yarne). They sealed his monastic quarters and barred anyone from entering. During a search of his quarters, they found photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and of Kyabje Shingza Rinpoche, the monastery’s spiritual head, inside an altar cabinet, along with a USB drive containing teachings by His Holiness.

Tenpa Gyatso was then held in Golok. Around 5 October, he was sentenced to five years and transferred to Xining’s largest prison, formerly known as the Brick Factory, in Qinghai Province. No other details are known. It is unclear whether he...