China sentences Tibetans up to six years

DHARAMSHALA, March 21: In connection with the self-immolation protest, Chinese court in Qinghai (Tib. Amdo) province handed down three Tibetans up to six years in jail. According to Dharamshala-based Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, Tibetans were charged of “incitement to split the country” and invoked article 103 of the Chinese Criminal Law to punish the Tibetans. The Intermediate People’s court in Tsoshar has sentenced Jigmey Thapkhey to five years in jail and deprived his political rights for three years; Kelsang Dhondup was given six-year jail term and withdrawn his political rights for four years. A court in Ping‘an County sentenced Lobsang to four years in prison and deprived his political rights for two years. In January this year, a Chinese court sentenced Lobsang Konchok, 40, a monk from Ngaba Kirti Monastery to death with a two-year reprieve and Lobsang Tsering, 31, to ten years in prison. On the same day, six other Tibetans were handed down heavy jail terms for their alleged roles in trying to rescue a Tibetan self-immolator from falling into the hands of Chinese security forces. Since 2009, there have been 109 confirmed Tibetans self-immolations calling for freedom in Tibet and return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama from exile. It is also reported that on March 19 a number of Tibetans were prosecuted for their alleged roles in the self-immolation of Rinchen, 17 and Sonam Dhargey, 18, who set themselves on fire in Kyangtsa in Dzorge, Eastern Tibet on February 19. Both succumbed to their burns.