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China defends Tibetan execution
From Lisa Rose Weaver
BEIJING (CNN) -- Beijing has described the recent execution of one Tibetan and a suspended death sentence for another as a domestic affair of the government. Officials apparently believe no diplomatic explanation was necessary for a case that has attracted criticism from the international community. Lobsang Dhondup, 28, was executed Sunday in an ethnic Tibetan region in southwest China, while Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, a 52-year-old Buddhist monk, was given a suspended death sentence following an appeal to a court in Sichuan Province. The men said they were innocent. The Tibetans were accused in three bombings in the past two years in China's Sichuan Province. Sichuan Province borders Tibet, and many Tibetans in the region seek independence from China. The first two bombings were in 2001 in Ganzi, close to the border of Tibet; the third blast was in April 2002 in the provincial capital of Chengdu. China's official Xinhua News Agency said Lobsang Dhondup was convicted of inciting separatism, causing explosions and unlawful possession of firearms. One person was reportedly killed and another seriously wounded in one of the bomb blasts. "On the matter of carrying out a death sentence, this is done in accordance with an entire set of regulations and a rigorous investigation process," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters. "China is a country ruled by law. China's judicial departments would handle any case according to the relevant laws," she said. "Therefore, our judicial department would deal with terrorists using bombs or any other person posing a security risk in the same manner as any other country." U.S. concernEarlier, the U.S. Embassy said it was concerned because the trial implicating the Tibetans was closed to the public, an unfair situation. U.S. officials brought up the case against the Tibetans during a human rights dialogue with Chinese officials in December. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said the Chinese Foreign Ministry assured the United States repeatedly that China's highest court would review the charges against the Tibetans before any sentencing. The German government said Lobsang Dhondup's execution called into question commitments Berlin claims China made to the European Union about keeping it informed of developments in the case. Meanwhile, several Tibetan rights groups criticized the sentences, arguing there was insufficient evidence to link the Tibetans to the bombings. The harsh treatment for the Tibetans contrasted with a more lenient approach shown by the release of a dissident whose case the United States pursued with Beijing. China quietly released Fang Jue on medical parole over the weekend, putting him on a direct flight to Chicago. While Beijing tolerates little organized political dissent or opposition, it sometimes quietly concedes to Western pressure with strategically timed releases. By contrast, there is less tolerance for what Beijing perceives to be ethnic separatism or opposition to Chinese rule in areas like Tibet and Xinjiang, in China's far west.
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