BEIJING, China – The reporter, Jamyang Kyi, 42, an announcer at the state-run television station in Qinghai, a western province bordering Tibet, was detained on April 1 and has not been seen since April 7, according to colleagues and friends. The authorities also confiscated her computer and a list of contacts, they said.

Jamyang Kyi is better known for her singing and song writing in the Tibetan language and performs abroad, sometimes alongside musicians associated with the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan government-in-exile.  However, she has avoided themes or language in her music and writings that could be construed as challenging the Communist Party’s hold over Tibet.

Chukora Tsering, a researcher at the Tibetan Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Dharamsala, India, said he knew of nothing in her music or writings that might have provoked the authorities.  Her husband, Lamao Jia, who is also a journalist and a writer, said he had received no word from his wife for more than a week and did not know where she was being held. “She is in serious trouble.  I’m very worried for her safety. I’m very sorry. I can’t say more,” he said in a telephone interview.

Asked about Jamyang Kyi’s detention, Jiang Yu, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said she was unaware of the songwriter’s case. She insisted, that the Chinese legal system dealt fairly with all its citizens. “China is a country under the rule of law.  The law protects freedom of speech and other rights of its citizens. Only when a person goes against the law will they be punished by the law,” she said during a regularly scheduled news conference.

For more information, please see:

New York Times – China Detains Tibetan Reporter – 18 April 1008

International Herald Tribune – Tibetan entertainer detained in China following anti-government protests – 16 April 2008