China has released a total of 1 157 people who were involved in riots in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, in March, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday, quoting a senior Tibetan official.
They had been detained for minor offences connected with the unrest, Tibet vice-chairperson Palma Trily told a press conference in Lhasa.
The announcement came on the eve of a shortened one-day Tibetan leg of the Olympic torch relay.
Palma Trily also said courts in Tibet had on Thursday and Friday handed down ”punishments” to 12 people involved in the unrest, Xinhua reported.
Another 116 people were in custody awaiting trial, he said.
The brief report did not announce what sentences they received but the official said a total of 42 people had now been punished over the unrest.
Authorities in April jailed 30 people for between three years and life for arson, robbery, ”gathering to assault state organs” and other crimes.
Amnesty International on Wednesday urged China to reveal what happened to people detained during a sweeping crackdown after the unrest, saying more than 1 000 people were held but only a small number faced ”questionable” trials.
Peaceful protests that began on March 10 in Lhasa to mark the anniversary of a 1959 uprising against China’s rule of Tibet escalated into widespread violence across the city on March 14 and spilled over into other parts of China inhabited by Tibetans.
Exiled Tibetan leaders say 203 people died in the subsequent government crackdown.
China has reported killing one Tibetan ”insurgent” and says ”rioters” were responsible for 21 deaths.
The Tibet issue was one of the major rallying cries for protesters who dogged the Olympic torch’s month-long global journey before it came to China for the home run ahead of the August Games.
Pro-Tibet activists as well as human rights and press freedom groups staged huge demonstrations in London, Paris and San Francisco, as well as smaller rallies in Australia, India and elsewhere.
The flame’s one-day stop in Tibet on Saturday is one of the most sensitive of the domestic route, which runs for thousands of kilometres over three months through every province and region of China.
China accuses Tibetans of targeting the Olympics following the crackdown in Lhasa, though exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has repeatedly expressed his support for the Beijing Games. — AFP
