Teenagers locked up for Tibetan graffiti

03/10/2007 - 9:11:32 AM
Evening Echo News
Four Tibetan teenagers have been in custody for over a month on suspicion of scribbling graffiti calling for independence and the return of the Dalai Lama, a human rights group said today.

A fifth boy has been treated in hospital for injuries stemming from beatings he suffered during detention by Chinese authorities, according to the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet.

Dozens of students were initially detained early last month after the graffiti appeared on walls of a school and a police station in Xiahe county, a heavily Tibetan area in western China’s Gansu province.

All but seven were released after two days and two 14-year-olds were released after their families paid a 4,000 yuan (€381) fine.


They were ordered to be confined to their villages.

A 15-year-old was taken to a hospital with possible head injuries resulting from beatings, and it is not clear if he will be returned to custody after treatment.

Four 15-year-olds remain in custody.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s traditional Buddhist leader, fled the Himalayan region for India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

He remains highly popular among Tibetans, despite persistent efforts to demonise him by Chinese authorities.

China claims Tibet has been its territory for centuries, but many Tibetans say they were effectively independent for most of that period.