BOMBAY  - Chinese police have arrested a monk in Tibet for having a portrait of the
exiled leader the Dalai Lama, activists said.

Phuntsok Tsering, the chant master of Magar Dhargyeling Monastery, was arrested in December "on
the charge of possessing (a) portrait of (the) Dalai Lama," the Friends of Tibet said in a
statement.

Police found the picture in his room along with Tibetan nationalist literature, the activists said
quoting the Gu-Chu-Sum Movement of Tibet, an association formed by ex-political prisoners.

"This led to his immediate arrest and (he) was taken to Nyari Prison in Shigatse," the statement
said. "We have no clue about his condition and charges levied against him.

A Chinese ban on pictures of the Dalai Lama was initially imposed only on party officials in 1994,
but later extended to public places and monasteries.

India has played host to the Dalai Lama, 69, and officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile
since the spiritual leader fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The International Campaign for Tibet estimates there are 150 political prisoners in Tibet, about
three-quarters of whom are monks and nuns. Many are subjected to physical and mental torture,
isolation, and death, the group says.