Yeshi Gyatso, 71; Jailed 20 Years for Seeking Tibet’s Independence

Yeshi Gyatso, 71, who spent more than 20 years in prison in Tibet for seeking his homeland’s independence from China, has died at his home, two months after being released on medical parole, the Tibetan exile government said Friday.

Gyatso died in Lhasa, Tibet, on Jan. 15, the exile government, based in Dharmsala, India, said in a statement.

Gyatso, a civil servant in Tibet, was first arrested in 1959 and spent 10 years at Lhasa’s Drapchi Prison, the exile government said. He spent another 10 years in Sangyip Prison, and was subjected to reeducation through labor. He was last arrested in June on charges of plotting to “split” China, and was sentenced to six years in prison.

China claims Tibet as its own territory. Chinese Communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951. The Dalai Lama, the supreme spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, fled to northern India eight years later during a failed revolt.