China jails 8 Tibetan monks for bomb blast

Eight Buddhist monks convicted of bombing a government building in Tibet during an anti-government uprising in March have been sentenced toprison, two of them for life, a judge said on Tuesday. 

The monks were sentenced at the People's Court in Chamdo, a Tibetan prefecture, after being convicted of setting off a bomb at the building in Gyanbe township, said Gang Weilai, the judge who presided over the case.

Gyurmey Dhondup and Kalsang Tsering were sentenced to life in prison while the others received sentences of between five and 15 years, Gang said in a telephone interview. He said the monks did not appeal their sentences.

Mo Shaoping, a Beijing-based lawyer, said separatism is considered a threat to national security and would usually be a more serious charge, although it depended on the specifics of the case.

Chinese state media have said eight monks from the Tongxia monastery in eastern Tibet confessed to planting a homemade bomb that exploded at a government building in Gyanbe township on March 23. No casualties or damage were reported in the blast.

China launched a massive crackdown in Tibet and a broad swath of Tibetan-inhabited regions in the country's west after demonstrations that began peacefully on March 10 among Buddhist monks in Lhasa spiraled into violence four days later.

Beijing claims the protests were part of a violent campaign by Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his supporters to throw off Chinese rule in Tibet and sabotage the Beijing Olympics in August.

The Dalai Lama has denied involvement in violent acts and said he only wants greater autonomy for the remote mountain region.