Thupten Nyima, who was detained in March was accused of leading protests by some 30 students from the Machu Tibetan Nationality Middle School. Over 500 other Tibetans later joined the student protest on March 14 this year.
Demanded independence
The protesters were demanding Tibetan independence and shouting against the lack of freedom, Dolkar Kyap, a native of Machu, said in March this year. At least 40 people were detained following the protest.
Thupten was tried by an Intermediate Court in Kanlho Prefecture but it is not known where he is currently held.
The students of the same school carried out their second protest on 3 April 2010. The students were protesting against the firing of the school’s headmaster and two of his Tibetan assistants from their jobs by
Chinese authorities in March, Kyap said, citing sources in the region.
The school’s headmaster Kyabchen Dedrol, and his two assistants – Do Re and Choekyong Tseten – were fired by Chinese authorities following the pro-independence protest by students on March 14, the second anniversary of the nation-wide protests that started from Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.
Two students were also expelled from school for criticizing the government’s patriotic re-education campaign, Kyap added.
Not the only case
Sonam Rinchen and Sonam Dhondup (pictures below), two students who helped to edit the Tibetan student magazine “Namchak”, have been sentenced to two years in jail in August 2010. Two other editors of the magazine, who were arrested at the same time as them in March in Sichuan province, are still awaiting trial.
The four students initiated a gathering of Tibetan students on March 17 to commemorate the 2008 uprisings. They were charged with separatism and inciting separatism in their writing.
At least 50 Tibetans have been arrested since March 2008 for sending information abroad.
According to Freedom House’s released “Worst of the Worst 2010: The World’s Most Repressive Societies” annual report, Tibet is among twenty “worst of the worst” contries and territories in the World.
HRH Oslo, based on Phayul.com information. See the original article here.
Related links:
Four Tibetan student magazine editors arrested, two of them sentenced
