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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 23 May 2018

China sentences Tibetan activist to 5 years for separatism

By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN In the documentary, Tashi,
BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese who was described in it as
judge sentenced a Tibetan a shopkeeper, spoke ex-
shopkeeper to five years tensively in China's main
in prison on Tuesday for in- language, Mandarin,
citing separatism, based about the "pressure and
on his comments in a New fear" felt by Tibetans and
York Times documentary his worry that their culture
in which the man talked is being wiped out through
about the erosion of his cul- the steady erosion of their
ture and language in the language.
tightly secured region. The Himalayan region is
Tashi Wangchuk's lawyer almost entirely off-limits to
Liang Xiaojun told The Asso- foreign media, but rights
ciated Press that his client groups report increasing re-
said earlier that he planned pression along with a mass
to appeal the sentence campaign to promote
handed down by a judge Mandarin in education and
in the western city of Yushu employment that Tibetans
in Qinghai province. say leaves them economi-
Liang said he was unable cally marginalized.
to comment further due to As with Xinjiang, Tibet has
a court-issued gag order. In this Jan. 8, 2018, file photo, an exile Tibetan wearing a mask in the likeness of 32-year-old Tashi seen waves of migrants
Rights groups condemned Wangchuk, stands next to a screen projecting a New York Times video during a street protest de- from other parts of China,
the sentence, saying Tashi manding his release, in Dharmsala, India. along with a stifling security
had committed no crime Associated Press presence and heavy-hand-
either under international ed political indoctrination
law or the Chinese consti- served, Tashi should be re- involving ethnic minorities video the Times made in aimed at ensuring loyalty to
tution. leased in 2021. However, — especially Tibetans and 2015 as the sole piece of the ruling Communist Party.
Tashi, 32, was detained in Chinese political prisoners Uighurs native to the north- evidence against Tashi. The The verdict against Tashi is
2016, two months after the are frequently subject to western region of Xinjiang film and article told of how a "gross injustice" and he
video and accompanying additional restrictions, in- — as well as the risks Chi- Tashi tried to sue local of- should be immediately and
article were published, and cluding house arrest, after nese citizens run when criti- ficials for denying Tibetans unconditionally released,
went on trial in January. He being released. cizing government policies education in their own lan- Amnesty International East
had pleaded not guilty to The case highlights the au- to foreign media. guage and Buddhist cul- Asia Research Director
the charge of incitement to thoritarian government's At his trial, prosecutors pre- ture. The Times' website is Joshua Rosenzweig said in
separatism. Counting time extreme sensitivity to issues sented the nine-minute blocked in China. a statement.q