On 8 August 2023, Mr. Sonam Gyalpo, a former political prisoner passed away at 71. Sonam Gyalpo has served a total of 16 years in prison over the course of more than three decades, including a 12-year sentence, on vague political allegations. A former monk at the Drepung Monastery, Sonam Gyalpo was among 21 monks who initiated the popular political demonstration in Lhasa on 27 September 1987. Sonam Gyalpo was detained on 28 August 2005 by a group of Chinese State Security Bureau officers from his home in Lhasa. He was among ten Tibetans detained during the run-up to the 40th founding anniversary celebration of the Tibet Autonomous Region, an important political anniversary for the Chinese authorities.