U.S. group protests Nepal arrest of Tibetan leaders
20 Jun 2008 05:48:20 GMT Source: Reuters
KATHMANDU, June 20 (Reuters) - Nepalese authorities arrested three Tibetan leaders and charged them with anti-China activities, leading to protest from a pro-Tibet group based in Washington. Police said the three Tibetans - Kelsang Chung, director of the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu, Ngawang Sangmo and Tashi Dolma, senior officials of the regional Tibetan Women's Association - were taken in on Thursday on charges of "anti-China activities". Their arrests came amid street protests on Thursday, which saw hundreds of Tibetan exiles, including nuns and monks, shouting anti-China slogans and scuffling with police in Kathmandu before being hauled into waiting trucks and taken to detention centres. Nearly 600 protesters were detained on Thursday for trying to storm a visa office of the Chinese embassy but it was not clear if they had been charged. Police officer Sarbendra Khana said on Friday the three Tibetan leaders were detained under Nepal's Public Security Act and could be held in custody for 90 days. Nepali authorities have not said what prompted their arrests. Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) criticised the government for the leaders' arrest, and said the three Tibetans should be released immediately. "These arrests are deeply disturbing at a time of transition to a new government in Nepal, when Tibetans already vulnerable in Nepal, are very nervous about Chinese government influence and presence in Kathmandu," Mary Beth Markey, a vice-president of the Washington-based said in a statement. "We call for the immediate release of these three prominent Tibetans," the group said on Friday. Nepal is presently going through a political transition, with former Maoist rebels, who scored a surprise victory in the April elections for a constituent assembly, expected to form a new government soon. The impoverished Himlayan state considers Tibet part of China, a key aid donor, and does not allow anti-China protests by Tibetans who fled their homeland after the failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule. Beijing wants Kathmandu to do more to stop the protests and Nepali authorities have recently toughened their position against refugees living in Nepal. More than 20,000 Tibetans have been living in the Himalayan nation after a failed uprising in Tibet against Chinese rule in 1959. Kathmandu allows the exiled Tibetans to live in Nepal, but they are prohibited from organising political activities against its influential neighbour. Thousands of Tibetans have been detained and later freed in recent months in Nepal for protesting against the Chinese crackdown on protests in Tibet in mid-March. (Reporting by Gopal Sharma; Editing by Bappa Majumdar and Valerie Lee)
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