Human Rights Watch called on China on Thursday to immediately release seven Tibetan high school students it said had been detained on suspicion of writing pro-Tibetan independence slogans.
The seven students studied at a village school in one of China's official "Tibetan autonomous" areas in Gansu Province and were among some 40 students detained by police on or around Sept. 7, the rights group said.
The boys were alleged to have written slogans calling for the return of the Dalai Lama and a free Tibet the previous day on the walls of the police station and other buildings in Amchok Bora village, the watchdog said.
China took power of the Himalayan region in 1950 and has since refused to allow the 71-year-old Dalai Lama -- revered as Tibetan Buddhism's highest spiritual authority -- to return home.
While most of the students were released within 48 hours, officials in Xiahe County had refused to reveal the location of the seven still missing or even confirm that they were in custody, Human Rights Watch said.
"Arresting teenagers for a political crime shows just how little has changed in Tibet," said Brad Adams, the group's Asia director.
"Beating up a child for a political crime shows just how far China has to go before it creates the `harmonious society' China's leaders talk so much about," he said.
The seven are all aged 14 or 15, according to the rights group.
One of the alleged detainees was reported to have been badly beaten during or after his arrest, the New York-based watchdog said.
"To end this embarrassing and abhorrent episode, the Chinese government should immediately release the boys, protect them and their parents from further abuse and explain why they were treated so harshly," Adams said.
The group described the arrests as "the latest example of an increasingly harsh response from Chinese authorities to the slightest hints of dissent."
MONEY GRAB: People were rushing to collect bills scattered on the ground after the plane transporting money crashed, which an official said hindered rescue efforts A cargo plane carrying money on Friday crashed near Bolivia’s capital, damaging about a dozen vehicles on highway, scattering bills on the ground and leaving at least 15 people dead and others injured, an official said. Bolivian Minister of Defense Marcelo Salinas said the Hercules C-130 plane was transporting newly printed Bolivian currency when it “landed and veered off the runway” at an airport in El Alto, a city adjacent to La Paz, before ending up in a nearby field. Firefighters managed to put out the flames that engulfed the aircraft. Fire chief Pavel Tovar said at least 15 people died, but
LIKE FATHER, LIKE DAUGHTER: By showing Ju-ae’s ability to handle a weapon, the photos ‘suggest she is indeed receiving training as a successor,’ an academic said North Korea on Saturday released a rare image of leader Kim Jong-un’s teenage daughter firing a rifle at a shooting range, adding to speculation that she is being groomed as his successor. Kim’s daughter, Ju-ae, has long been seen as the next in line to rule the secretive, nuclear-armed state, and took part in a string of recent high-profile outings, including last week’s military parade marking the closing stages of North Korea’s key party congress. Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) released a photo of Ju-ae shooting a rifle at an outdoor shooting range, peering through a rifle scope
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
RSS