Beijing, June 2 – China will punish a group of 18 Tibetans who illegally crossed into Nepal and were sent back to China last weekend, a communist party newspaper said on Monday.
“These Tibetans illegally entered the territory of Nepal, violating the relevant laws of the government of China,” the Global Times said, citing a Chinese foreign ministry statement. “Their behaviour will be punished under the law.”
The foreign ministry didn’t immediately respond to requests to confirm the report.
The Tibetans, who included women and children as young as 13, were taken from a Nepalese jail on Saturday and driven back to China, accompanied by Chinese diplomats, according to witnesses, overseas Tibetan activists and the government of the Dalai Lama, the exiled tibetan leader.
The Global Times didn’t say what penalty they might face. But activists say Tibetans who are returned after leaving China without permission could be imprisoned.
Thousands of Tibetans pass through Nepal every year, most bound for studies at schools in India set up by Dalai Lama. After letting many through, Nepal has recently begun detaining and fining Tibetans who cross its border without permission.
UN refugee agency expressed “grave concern” over the fate of the returned Tibetans. It called their deportation “a blatant violation of Nepal’s obligations under international law.”
Communist troops occupied Tibet in 1950 and Beijing says the region has been part of China for centuries. Tibetans contend it was independent for much of that time and accuse the communist government of destroying the region’s unique Buddhist culture.
