Lawyer Representing Tibetan Entrepreneur Dorje Tashi, Sentenced to Life Imprisonment, Again Denied Visit

On October 5, 2026, this outlet learned that recently, Wang Fei, the lawyer representing Tibetan entrepreneur Dorje Tashi, who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was again denied a request to visit him. A recording of a phone call recently made public shows prison staff mentioning that information had been posted online and caused an “impact.” Wang Fei said that the family has been unable to visit him normally for years and demanded that the prison provide a written response explaining its refusal to allow the visit.

Last October, after visiting Dorje Tashi, lawyer Wang Fei told the family about his account of being beaten in prison. The family subsequently went to the prison gates to protest.

In August 2026, the International Campaign for Tibet reported: “The Tibet Autonomous Region Prison has seriously violated the law, using absurd grounds to prevent the lawyer handling the appeal from visiting Dorje Tashi and depriving his family of visitation rights for six years.”

The well-known Tibetan entrepreneur Dorje Tashi, sentenced to life imprisonment by the Chinese Communist authorities on trumped-up charges in 2008, has been in prison for 18 years. His family has spent years appealing and protesting his innocence outside the Tibet Autonomous Region High People’s Court. The regional prison has deprived Dorje Tashi’s family of visitation rights for six years, and now it has also deprived his lawyer handling the appeal of the right to visit him.

Biography of Dorje Tashi: Male, born on October 25, 1973, Tibetan, from Xiahe County, Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Gansu Province. Former deputy to the 11th People’s Congress of Shigatse City, Tibet Autonomous Region; president of the Tibet Shenhu Group; chairman of the board of Tibet Shenhu Industrial Development Co., Ltd.; and executive director of Tibet Shigatse Oasis Real Estate Development Co., Ltd. On July 11, 2008, he was criminally detained by the Lhasa Public Security Bureau on suspicion of financing criminal activities endangering national security. On August 19 of the same year, he was arrested with the approval of the Lhasa People’s Procuratorate on suspicion of bribery. On June 3, 2009, the Lhasa People’s Procuratorate indicted him on charges of loan fraud. On May 17, 2010, the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court sentenced him to life imprisonment at first instance for loan fraud. The appellant disagreed and appealed, pleading not guilty. On July 26, 2010, the Tibet Autonomous Region High People’s Court issued its second-instance ruling, rejecting the appeal and upholding the original judgment. He is currently detained at Qushui County Prison in Lhasa.