Classification: Tibetan Buddhist monk; prisoner of conscience; serving a 19-year prison sentence imposed in 2020. As of August 2026, listed as in custody.
Background
Losang Jinba (罗桑金巴; also romanized Lobsang Jinpa) is a Tibetan Buddhist monk of Tengdro (登卓) monastery in Shekar town, Tingri county, in the Tibet Autonomous Region. According to Human Rights Watch, he was one of four monks from the monastery swept up after a September 2019 search triggered when public-security officers in Lhasa found private communications — including messages with Tibetan monks living in Nepal and records of donations made after the 2015 Nepal earthquake — on a mobile phone lost by a fellow monk, Choegyal Wangpo.
Secret trial and 19-year sentence
Following the search, multiple people were arrested and one person died by suicide, Human Rights Watch reports. Four monks were secretly tried in 2020: Choegyal Wangpo was sentenced to 20 years, Losang Jinba (罗桑金巴) to 19 years, Norbu Dondrup to 17 years, and Ngawang Yeshe to 5 years — even though, the organization notes, sending text messages abroad or donating to disaster relief violated no Chinese law. Human Rights Watch based its account on interviews with Tibetans outside China as well as official media, social media, and exile-community reporting.
Status and evidentiary limits
Losang Jinba is classified as a current prisoner. 维权网’s August 31, 2026 monthly report (Issue 131) lists 罗桑金巴 among the prisoners of conscience in custody, in the “sentenced to 19 years” group — consistent with the 19-year term reported by Human Rights Watch. His exact facility, current condition, and the precise charge of record are unconfirmed beyond the sources cited above; no further detail is inferred. The case narrative is Human Rights Watch’s reporting and is attributed accordingly. This profile does not merge Losang Jinba with any co-defendant, nor with the 17th-century Tibetan official of the same Chinese name.
Media Profile & Archive: Losang Jinba 罗桑金巴 — Media Profile & Archive