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China sentences Tibetan lama to 8 years in prison

China to step up Nepal aid and trade: state media
Beijing (AFP) Dec 30, 2009 - China pledged to bolster aid and trade to Nepal on Wednesday, state media said, one day after Nepal's prime minister said his government would not tolerate anti-China protests in the Himalayan nation. Beijing "will provide necessary support and assistance to the Nepalese side in hydropower construction, infrastructure development, health, education, human resources development and other fields," Xinhua news agency said. China also pledged tariff reductions and other assistance, the report said, citing a joint government statement issued during the ongoing visit of Nepalese Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. The Nepalese leader's visit to China is his first since he took office in May. The prime minister on Wednesday met with President Hu Jintao, the last of his major official meetings before heading home to Kathmandu.

"The Nepalese government... believes that Taiwan and Tibet are inalienable parts of the Chinese territory," Nepal told Prime Minister Wen Jiabao Tuesday in comments reported on Chinese state television. Nepal "will not allow any forces to use Nepalese territory to engage in anti-China activities", he said. The Himalayan nation is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans, who began arriving in large numbers in 1959 after their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama fled Tibet following a failed uprising against the Chinese. In recent months the exiles say their lives have become increasingly difficult as Nepal -- reportedly under heavy pressure from Beijing -- has sought to restrict their activities. Nepalese authorities have arrested dozens of Tibetan exiles who tried to hold anti-China protests over the situation in Tibet.
by Staff Writers
 Beijing (AFP) Dec 31, 2009
 China has sentenced a Tibetan Buddhist lama to more than eight years in jail for illegal possession of ammunition and embezzlement, charges that the monk has denied, his lawyer said Thursday.

The monk was arrested after nuns at his temple protested against a crackdown on Tibetan Buddhism following anti-China riots that erupted in Lhasa in 2008 and spread through the Himalayan region, lawyer Jiang Tianyong told AFP.

Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche "was charged with illegal possession of ammunition and embezzlement, but he denied all charges," Jiang said.

"He was tried in April and the sentence had been scheduled to be read out days later, but for some unknown reason it was postponed until December 23," he added.

The 53-year-old monk has not decided if he will appeal the verdict, Jiang said.

The court in the Garze region of southwest China's Sichuan province did not allow Jiang or the lama's other lawyer to attend the verdict hearing, according to the lawyer.

When the lama was arrested, in May 2008, rights groups said that about 100 bullets had been planted by police in his home in an attempt to silence the monk at a time when anti-China sentiment in the region was growing.

According to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, the arrest of the prominent and "highly regarded" religious figure brought tremendous grief to Tibetan Buddhists in Garze, where he preached.

China said 20 people had been killed by Tibetan rioters when turmoil broke out in Lhasa in early March 2008. The Tibetan government-in-exile claimed that over 200 people were killed and some 1,000 hurt in the unrest and crackdown.

At least 5,700 people were arrested during the period, the government has said, with many Buddhist monks given long prison terms.

Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950 and officially annexed the region a year later. The Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland following the 1959 uprising, has repeatedly accused Beijing of widespread rights violations there.


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