Sonam Tsephel is a Tibetan writer from Pasho County (Ch: Baxio) Chamdo City of Tibet Autonomous Region. He used to operate a business from Dingri (Ch: Tingri) County, Shigatse (Ch: Xigaze) City, Tibet Autonomous Region, in the Tibetan province of U-Tsang.

Due to sharing His Holiness the Dalai Lama's teachings and portrait on social media, Sonam Tsephel has been imprisoned twice previously. In 2009, he was sentenced twice on the trumped-up charge of “inciting separatism”

In June 2015, he was detained and punished by the Chinese police in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) for more than a month after being accused of writing that disrupted ethnic unity and sharing His Holiness portrait and teachings on social media. On 19 February 2016, he was subsequently given detention by the Chinese police. He had been arrested three times by the Chinese police between 2009 and 2016.

His family members and relatives are unaware of his current whereabouts and the circumstances behind his detention.