By Kalsang Rinchen
Dharamsala, January 13 – A Chinese court in Tibetan capital Lhasa has sentenced 4 Tibetans to varying prison terms on charges of engaging in “Separatist” behaviour and trying to escape to India, according to Bhod Ki Bhangchen Tibetan weekly.
The 4 Tibetans — Tsewang, aged 23 from Nyemo County, Lobsang Dhondor from Damshung, Wangdak Nyima, aged around 40 from Damshung County and Dhondup Dorjee from Lhasa were sentenced by the Lhasa Intermediate People’s Court on December 22, 2010.
The 4 were arrested on their way to India where the Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama, whom China reviles as a “separatist” and “monk in wolve’s robes” has been living since 1959.
Tsewang and Lobsang Dhondor were sentenced to 2 years in prison. Wangdak Nyima was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and Dhondup Dorjee to 4 years.
The latest known case of a Tibetan jailed for fleeing Tibet is of a 30 year old Tibetan named Chime Tashi from Driru County who was arrested in October last year and sentenced thereafter to 2 years imprisonment.
Hundreds of Tibetans risk their lives by making dangerous journeys across the mountainous border into Nepal every year. Nepal, which has no asylum laws, had recently beefed security along its border with Tibet making it hard for Tibetans to escape. Nepal handed over three fleeing Tibetan refugees to Chinese authorities in early June last year, prompting concerns from the United Nations.
Past estimates suggest between 2,500 and 3,000 Tibetans escape Tibet and enter Nepal each year on their way to the seat of Tibetan Government-in-Exile here in north India. The number has slowed down dramatically since 2008 after Nepal beefed up security along its border with Tibet following Chinese pressure.
