DHARAMSHALA, February 11: In continuing crackdown on Tibetans in connection with the wave of self-immolation protests in Tibet, a 60-year-old Tibetan has been sentenced to four years in prison for spreading opinions related to Tibetan independence.
A Chinese court in the Malho region of eastern Tibet convicted the Tibetan herdsman, Gyadehor, for “inciting secession” and deprived his political rights for two years
The Malho region, which has been at the heart of the recent upsurge in self-immolation protests, has already witnessed heavy sentencing in connection with the protests.
According the China’s state news agency Xinhua, the elderly Tibetan was found guilty of “spreading opinions related to ‘Tibetan independence’ when he brought cash and other goods to console families of self-immolators in November 2012.”
The court said his acts constituted the “crime of inciting a split of the state.”
The same day, another Tibetan, Phagpa, was sentenced to 13 years in jail on charges of “intentional homicide.”
Last week, Tibetans in Toronto led by the Students for a Free Tibet, Canada, Tibetan Women’s Association of Ontario, and Tibetan community of Toronto staged a protest at the Chinese Consulate protesting the death sentence of Lobsang Konchok and demanding the release of other Tibetans who have been convicted in self-immolation related cases.
Last month, Chinese courts sentenced Lobsang Konchok, 40, a monk of the Ngaba Kirti Monastery to death with a two-year reprieve and Lobsang Tsering, 31, to 10 years in prison. On the same day, six Tibetans were sentenced to heavy jail terms of up to 12 years for their alleged roles in trying to rescue a Tibetan self-immolator from falling into the hands of Chinese authorities.
“China wants to stop self-immolations by killing more Tibetans, giving them death sentences,” said Urgyen Badheytsang, National Director of Students for a Free Tibet, Canada. “That’s the way a regime acts when it wants to annihilate an entire people. They are just trying to find people to arrest, and they fail to understand or make any efforts to respectfully approach the issue.”
