Rinchen Tsultrim, a Tibetan monk from Ngaba in Eastern Tibet’s Amdo region who was sentenced to four years and six months in prison in 2020, following an incommunicado detention for over a year and seven months has recently been released from Sichuan’s Mianyang Prison, according to multiple sources. Rinchen Tsultrim, along with two other monks from Ngaba County’s Kordo area in Eastern Tibet’s Amdo region, was apprehended on August 1, 2019.     Although the two fellow monks were released shortly after their initial detention, Rinchen Tsultrim’s family received an official communication almost eight months later, on March 26, 2020. The letter, however, provided minimal details, merely labelling Rinchen Tsultrim as “a traitor” without elaborating on the charges. Following the communication, Rinchen Tsultrim was subsequently sentenced to four years and six months in prison by the Aba Intermediate People’s Court on November 27, 2020. His sentence was based on allegations of “inciting separatism,” with the court pointing to Rinchen Tsultrim’s social media posts addressing religious and political issues in Tibet.    In 2019, Rinchen Tsultrim faced another instance of detention, this time for engaging in communication with an exiled Tibetan during the 11th Panchen Lama Gendun Choekyi Nyima’s birthday. Prior to this incident, he had been detained twice in 2018 by Chinese authorities for communicating with exiled Tibetans through micro-messaging apps, following an examination of his personal phone. Subsequently, Tsultrim was prohibited from using any micro-messaging apps. Additionally, his website, which hosted a diverse collection of compositions, was forcibly shut down.    Rinchen Tsultrim was subjected to persecution for the act of sending numerous Buddhist texts from locations outside Tibet to individuals within Tibet through postal services. Chinese authorities also utilised Tsultrim’s profile picture on WeChat, featuring his sister attending an educational workshop in India, to label her as being involved in political activities in exile.    Moreover, at the time of Rinchen Tsultrim’s imprisonment, his family was exposed to significant danger and endured constant pressure from Chinese authorities. Rinchen Tsultrim became a monk at a young age, joining the esteemed Nangshe monastery associated with the Bon religion. Hailing from a modest farming family in the Ngaba region, Rinchen Tsultrim’s parents, Tashi Dhondup and Tsomo have five other children. Source: Phayul

Mohammadi was sentenced to over a year in prison for allegedly spreading propaganda against the Islamic republic. Her family said this was her fifth conviction since March 2021. An Iranian court has sentenced Nobel Peace Prize winner Narges Mohammadi to more time in prison, accusing her of spreading propaganda against the Islamic Republic while in prison. Mohammadi's family said on Monday the Revolutionary Court sentenced in December the Nobel Laureate to 15 months in prison. They added that she had boycotted the trial. Mohammadi is currently serving a 30-month sentence in Tehran over allegedly spreading propaganda against the ruling system, disobedience in prison and defamation of authorities. What does the latest ruling say? According to the new sentence, Mohammadi was ordered to spend two years in exile outside Tehran, which means she will have to be moved from the notorious Evin prison where she is currently held. The Iranian activist was also given a two-year travel ban, as well as a two-year ban on using a smartphone. Both will come into force once she's eventually freed. Mohammadi's family said this was her fifth conviction since March 2021.  Her family condemned the verdict as akin to a "political statement" emphasizing accusations that she "repeatedly incites and encourages public and individual opinions against the Islamic regime to sow chaos and disturbances." Who is Narges Mohammadi? Narges Mohammadi, who has campaigned for human rights in Iran for decades, has been in and out of jail for nearly 20 years due to her tireless advocacy in defiance of the Islamic Republic's regime. She has been arrested 13 times, and convicted five times. The 51-year-old human rights activist has kept up her work despite the numerous threats and arrests. In November last year, Mohammadi went on a hunger strike after she and several other inmates were denied access to health care. She also said that it was in protest against the country's mandatory headscarves for women. Her children accepted the Nobel Peace Prize at Oslo's city hall in October on her behalf in her absence. More proceedings against two female journalists Meanwhile, Iran's judiciary launched new proceedings against two journalists who had only been released on Sunday on bail after spending over a year in prison. Niloufar Hamedi and Elaheh Mohammadi have been accused of posing without the mandatory headscarf upon their prison release. They had also been held in Evin prison. Their images, smiling and holding hands outside the prison, circulated on social media. The two female journalists were arrested for their coverage of the September 2022 death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests.    

Archaeologists excavating the ancient Roman city of Pompeii have uncovered a "prison bakery" where slaves and blindfolded donkeys were kept locked up underground to grind grain for bread, officials said this week. Underneath a house in the ruins they found "a cramped room with no view of the outside world and with small windows high in the wall, with iron bars, to let the light in", the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced on Friday (Dec 8). Archaeologists deduced they had found a "prison bakery", the UNESCO World Heritage Site near Naples, southern Italy, said on its website. They also discovered "indentations" in the floor "to coordinate the movement of the animals, forced to walk around for hours, blindfolded". The house, on the 44-hectare site that is currently under excavation, was divided into a residential area "decorated with exquisite Fourth Style frescoes" and a "productive quarter", the bakery. Three skeletons were discovered in one room of the bakery, showing that the house was inhabited. - 'Shocking' side of ancient world - "It is, in other words, a space in which we have to imagine the presence of people of servile status whose freedom of movement the owner felt the need to restrict," wrote Pompeii director Gabriel Zuchtreigel in a scholarly article. "It is the most shocking side of ancient slavery, the one devoid of both trusting relationships and promises of manumission, where we were reduced to brute violence, an impression that is entirely confirmed by the securing of the few windows with iron bars." The public can view more evidence of this harsh daily life in an exhibition called "The Other Pompeii: Ordinary Lives in the Shadow of Vesuvius" which opens at the Palestra Grande in Pompeii on December 15.

Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's release from prison day today. On this day in 2008, Sheikh Hasina was released from a special sub-jail set up in the Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban area, after being incarcerated for nearly 11 months. On July 16, 2007, Sheikh Hasina was arrested from her Dhanmondi residence Sudha Sadan during the army-backed caretaker government. At that time, the Awami League president fell ill in captivity.  Later, Awami League and its affiliated organizations including different sectors demanded that Sheikh Hasina be released from jail and sent abroad for better treatment.  Conceding spontaneous demands and pressure from the people from various quarters, the then caretaker government was forced to release Sheikh Hasina. Later on December 29, 2008, the Grand Alliance led by Awami League won the national parliament election with a two-thirds majority.  So, the Awami League president Sheikh Hasina became the prime minister for the second term.

Government critic Ousmane Sonko was acquitted of rape charges but found guilty of "corrupting youth." His trial has triggered street protests in Senegal. A Senegalese court sentenced on Thursday sentenced former presidential candidate Ousmane Sonko to two years in prison over "corrupting youth," but acquitted him of rape charges. Sonko, who is particularly popular among younger voters, had repeatedly said the rape charges were a ploy to stop him from running for the presidency next year. He boycotted the trial proceedings, but was forcibly returned to Dakar by the police on Sunday, ahead of the verdict. 'Politically motivated' trial? His trial, and particularly forcible return to the capital, sparked protests by his supporters, who took to the streets to denounce the charges against him. Like Sonko, his supporters argue the charges are politically motivated, which the authorities deny. Sonko, who is president of the PASTEF-Patriots party, came third in the 2019 presidential election behind incumbent Macky Sall and former Prime Minister Idrissa Seck. Senegal's electoral laws bar individuals convicted of criminal offenses from running for political office. A lawyer present at the hearing told the French AFP news agency that "corrupting youth" is a lesser offense than rape. The charge refers to the act of debauching or encouraging the debauchery of a person under the age of 21. It is not yet clear whether Thursday's hearing is sufficient to disqualify Sonko from Senegal's next election. Sonko has also recently received a 6-month suspended sentence in a defamation case, which he vowed to appeal. What do we know about the rape case? The prosecution claims the 48-year-old politician sexually assaulted and made death threats against a woman who worked in a massage parlor in 2021. Prosecutors were seeking a 10-year jail term for the politician. Sonko claims he visited the "Sweet Beaute" salon in the capital, Dakar, for a massage for chronic back pain. He denies any assault. In court, his accuser provided details of the alleged abuse, saying she was raped five times and had received death threats. A doctor who consulted her on the evening of the alleged event said he had found evidence of sexual intercourse. The salon's owner, who was accused of complicity in rape, was sentenced to two years. Ndeye Khady Ndiaye had denied that any of the services provided by her former staff involved sexual acts.

Roman Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez, a staunch critic of Nicaragua's government, has been stripped of his citizenship and sentenced to a 26-year jail term. A court in Nicaragua has sentenced Catholic Bishop Rolando Alvarez to over 26 years in prison, a day after the outspoken critic of President Daniel Ortega's government declined to be expelled to the United States as part of a prisoner release. The sentence was handed down Friday by Octavio Ernesto Rothschuh, the chief magistrate of the Managua appeals court. Alvarez was also stripped of his Nicaraguan citizenship. The prison sentence given to Alvarez on Friday is the longest given to any of Ortega's opponents in the last few years. What do we know about the case against the bishop? Alvarez was known to be one of the most vocal religious figures still in Nicaragua as Ortega intensified his crackdown on the opposition in recent years. His government has detained dozens of opponents, journalists and religious figures. The bishop was arrested in August, when the police dislodged him after he had barricaded himself in church property for several weeks along with other priests. A large number of Nicaraguans see the church as the last independent institution in the country, making it a threat to Ortega's increasingly authoritarian regime. What led up to the prison sentence? On Thursday, the Nicaraguan government announced a surprise political prisoner release. Around 222 individuals were freed and put on a plane to Washington. Ortega also released prisoners who he viewed as criminal agents of foreign powers who sought to undermine Nicaragua's national sovereignty. Alvarez, who was to be included in the release, refused to board the plane. Ortega called Alvarez's refusal "an absurd thing." What has been the reaction of the international community? US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Nicaragua's Foreign Minister Denis Moncada, the State Department said Friday. The two discussed the importance of constructive dialogue between the two nationsto build a better future for Nicaragua's people, the State Department added.

Two Belgian activists who threw soup on 'Girl With a Pearl Earring' have been given short jail terms by a Dutch court. This was the third such incident involving famous European artworks in recent weeks. Two Belgian climate activists received two-month prison sentences on Wednesday, one of which is suspended, for attacking the renowned "Girl with a Pearl Earring" painting by Johannes Vermeer at a museum in the Netherlands. The incident was the latest in a string of attacks against art masterpieces in Europe, in an attempt to raise awareness regarding climate issues.  The activists' trial was fast-tracked, as they were charged with destruction and "open violence" against the painting. A third activist will face court on Friday, after refusing the fast-track trial. Dutch prosecutors had called for a four-month prison sentence, with two months suspended. They argued that the defendants"smeared" the painting because they "felt their message took precedence over everything else." However, the judge said her sentence was meant to refrain from discouraging demonstrations. The activists belong to the climate group Just Stop Oil Belgium. In reaction to the verdict, the group said in an email seen by  Reuters news agency: "Isn't it ironic that climate activists who nonviolently oppose the mass slaughter of life on Earth are being condemned?" How did the attack unfold? On October 27, images emerged on social media that showed activists throwing tomato soup over the painting at the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague. One of the activists glued himself to the painting, which was behind glass, and another to the wall next to the masterpiece. A third activist threw the soup at the painting. The museum said the painting was undamaged. It was returned on display a day after the attack, with the glass covering it replaced. Similar previous attacks Climate activists from Just Stop Oil Britain, which is independent from Just Stop Oil Belgium, threw soup at Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery some three weeks ago. Activists in Germany similarly threw mashed potatoes last week at a Claude Monet painting in Potsdam, a city near Berlin, to protest fossil fuel production. Both paintings, as with Vermeer's painting, were enclosed behind protective glass shielding and weren't damaged. Climate activists in Europe have been gluing themselves to famous paintings throughout the summer to lodge their protest against new gas and oil extraction projects.  The protests have ramped up as world leaders prepare to gather in Egypt for the United Nation's annual climate conference, COP27, later this week.  

A huge fire broke out at a prison in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Saturday night, after nearly a month of protests over the death in custody of Jina Mahsa Amini. Online videos posted to social media appeared to show smoke rising from the city's Evin prison, which holds political prisoners and dual nationals. Gunshots and chanting can be heard in the background. The official IRNA news agency quoted an unnamed security official as saying the unrest was "under control," and that the blaze was put out.  According to IRNA, at least eight people were injured but nobody was killed in the fire. What happened at the prison? The unnamed official cited by IRNA said the unrest occurred in a section of the prison holding "thugs." IRNA said it erupted due to clashes between prisoners and prison personnel in one ward. Prisoners set ablaze a warehouse holding prison uniforms, a senior security official told the agency. The authorities claimed to have de-escalated the situation by separating the "rioters" from the rest of the inmates. Witnesses told the Reuters news agency that roads leading to the prison were blocked, while ambulances arrived at the scene. They added that families of prisoners gathered outside the main entrance. Political prisoners in danger?  In 2018, the US government had blacklisted the prison, citing "serious human rights abuses." "Evin is where the Islamic Republic regime holds many political prisoners during these years. According to human rights organizations, this prison is where the regime has committed serious human rights abuses against political prisoners and critics of the government," DW's Farsi language journalist Niloofar Gholami said. According to Gholami, Iranian human rights activists fear that the situation in Evin is "the regime's own tactic to maybe eliminate political prisoners," despite the official communications on the fire. 

The 14th anniversary of release of Awami League President and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from prison is being observed today. On this day in 2008, Sheikh Hasina was released from the special sub-jail set up on the premises of the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) Building after remaining captive there for nearly 11 months. The Awami League president was arrested from her Sudha Sadan residence at Dhanmondi on July 16, 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government, which assumed power in the political changeover of 1/11 in 2007. As Sheikh Hasina fell sick during her captivity, demands were raised then from different quarters including the Awami League and its associate bodies to send her abroad for better medical treatment after releasing her from jail. Conceding to the people's spontaneous and repeated demands and pressure from different quarters, the caretaker government was compelled to release Sheikh Hasina from jail. In the national election of December 29 in 2008, the Awami League-led grand alliance registered a landslide victory with a two-thirds majority in the Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) and Awami League President Sheikh Hasina became the Prime Minister for the second term. After that, Awami League also became triumphant in the general elections of 2014 and 2018 and formed the government. Awami League (AL) and its associate bodies have taken various programmes to observe the day. The programme includes offering special prayers in all mosques, temples, churches, pagodas and other religious places of worship seeking Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's long life and good health. AL will also hold a discussion and doa-mahfil on Bangabandhu Avenue at 11 am tomorrow. Source: BSS AH

The prison authority said that BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia has refused to go to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) for treatment despite their preparations to shift her. Prison sources said, Khaleda Zia informed that she would not go to BSMMU but she did not mention the reason. Jailor of Dhaka Central Jail Mahbub Alam said, preparations are taken to shift her to BSMMU. But it is not sure whether she would go there or not. He said, according to the rules BSMMU hospital was prepared for Khaleda Zia. We also had preparations. But when she was informed about the decision she expressed her unwillingness to go to the hospital. Earlier BSMMU Director Brigadier General Abdullah Al Harun said, the prison authority has informed that the BNP chief is being brought to the hospital. She may be admitted to the BSMMU cabin block. Meanwhile the cabin number 621 and 622 of BSMMU were cleaned from Sunday morning. Huge number of police members took their position in front of the cabin block. BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia is in captivity in the abandoned prison of Nazimuddin Road from February 2018 after being awarded 17 years imprisonment in connection with Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases. AH