The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Published in International Herald Tribune
BEIJING: Authorities in western China have detained four teenagers
for about a month on suspicion of scribbling graffiti calling for
Tibet's independence and the return of the Dalai Lama, a rights group
said Wednesday.
A fifth boy was hospitalized with injuries stemming from beatings he
suffered during detention, according to the Washington-based
International Campaign for Tibet.
Dozens of students were initially detained in early September after
the graffiti appeared on walls of a middle 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, the group said in a
statement, and two 14-year-olds were released about Sept. 24 after
their families paid a 4,000 yuan (US$530, €375) fine and were ordered
confined to their villages, the group said.
But four 15-year-olds remain in custody, it said.
Another 15-year-old was taken to a hospital with possible head
injuries resulting from beatings, and it was not clear if he would be
returned to custody after treatment, according to International
Campaign for Tibet.
A man who answered the phone at the Xiahe county government office
called the report "nonsense and rumor."
"No such thing happened," said the man, who refused to give his name
but said he was a county employee.
Phones rang unanswered at the Xiahe public security bureau and
detention center.
The Dalai Lama, Tibet's traditional Buddhist leader, fled the
Himalayan region for India in 1959 amid a failed uprising against
Chinese rule. He remains highly popular among Tibetans, despite
persistent efforts to demonize 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.