Tibetan Intellectual Arrested for collecting for Earthquake Victims

A leading Tibetan intellectual, a writer, publisher and philosopher, long seen as close to China's ruling Communist Party, has been arrested after organizing private donations for this month's earthquake.

Tra Gyal, better known by his penname of Zhogs Dung, was detained on Friday evening in Xining, capital of the western province of Qinghai where the April 14 tremor killed more than 2,000 people, Tibetan sources said.

According to The Telegraph, half a dozen police picked him up from his office at the Qinghai Nationalities Publishing House, took him to his home and carried out a meticulous search of his study, taking him away at about 10 p.m.

The officers also removed two computers, written documents and pictures. They returned again to show the writer's wife a formal arrest warrant for her husband.

Tra Gyal, 45, has acquired fame as Tibet's premier intellectual and essayist. However, he appears to have run foul of the authorities in recent weeks through his writings that have become more critical of Chinese rule of Tibetan regions, and also because of his activism after the earthquake.