Free China Movement: A Photograph of the Dalai Lama Is Not Separatism

August 31, 2026

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Democracy activist Zhang Yi should be released immediately; peaceful expression must not be turned into a national-security crime

WASHINGTON, D.C. — August 31, 2026 — The Free China Movement calls for the immediate release of Chinese democracy activist and human-rights defender Zhang Yi, who was detained in Lhasa after showing a photograph of the Dalai Lama while visiting Sera Monastery.

According to Amnesty International, Zhang was detained on July 1 and formally arrested on July 28 on suspicion of “inciting separatism.” Amnesty says the authorities have not publicly disclosed the factual basis for that accusation and that his detention appears to stem solely from the peaceful exercise of his human rights.

Showing a photograph of the Dalai Lama is peaceful expression. On the facts publicly described by Amnesty International, treating that act as evidence of separatism raises serious concerns about the use of national-security law against speech, religion and cultural identity.

Amnesty reports that Zhang showed the photograph after he was unable to communicate verbally with a Tibetan worshipper while trying to borrow a prayer mat. According to Zhang’s family, as reported by Amnesty, plainclothes officers observed the interaction, and police detained Zhang before he left the monastery.

The case also connects two generations of political repression. Amnesty identifies Zhang as a prominent pro-democracy activist and human-rights defender from Wuhan who first became politically active during the 1989 Tiananmen democracy movement.

More than three decades later, he now faces a separatism accusation arising from what Amnesty describes as peaceful expression involving Tibetan religious identity.

Zhang’s history as a participant in the 1989 democracy movement gives the case additional significance, but the legal principle does not depend on his biography: peaceful expression, religious practice and cultural identity should not be converted into criminal conduct without a clear and publicly supportable basis.

Zhang’s detention also occurred on July 1, the day the new Ethnic Unity Law entered into force. Amnesty has warned that the law contains broad provisions that could deepen restrictions affecting Tibetans, Uyghurs, Mongolians and other communities and further institutionalize assimilation policies.

The Free China Movement calls on the Mainland Chinese Communist Government to:

immediately and unconditionally release Zhang Yi;
ensure, pending his release, that he has access to his family and a lawyer of his choosing and is protected from torture or other ill-treatment;
disclose the factual and legal basis for the accusation against him;
end the use of “separatism” and other national-security offenses against peaceful expression, religious practice and cultural identity; and
respect the rights of Tibetans and all people to peaceful expression, religion, culture and association.

Durable national cohesion cannot rest on criminalizing peaceful identity, belief or memory. Respect for rights and lawful consent provides a stronger foundation than fear-based restrictions on expression.