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Justice in
Tibet needs external observers
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By Vaclav Havel,
Prince Hassan Bin Talal, Desmond Tutu, Vartan G
Saturday, Apr 18, 2009, Page 8
On April 8, two Tibetans, Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak, were sentenced to death by
the Municipal Intermediate Peopleˇ¦s Court in Lhasa.
Both men were convicted of committing arson that caused death against
Chinese-owned businesses.
Another two Tibetan activists, Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk, received suspended
death sentences, and a third, Dawa Sangpo, was sentenced by the same court to
life imprisonment.
These latest verdicts are the first death sentences to be meted out by Chinese
courts to those who took part in protests that swept Lhasa and other Tibetan
cities in the spring of last year.
Since these trials took place in complete isolation from the rest of the world,
with no impartial observers or foreign journalists present, it is to be doubted,
strongly, that the defendants received anything remotely like a fair trial in
accordance with international judicial standards.
APPEAL
We therefore appeal to the authorities of the Peopleˇ¦s Republic of China to
rescind the decision to execute these protesters, and to provide them with an
opportunity to be re-tried in a judicial process that is more in keeping with
the international standards that China says it adheres to.
The first standard that must be met is that the trial must be verifiable and
open to international observation.
Beyond the grim fates of the Tibetans, we are also concerned about the hundreds
of other detained protesters who have yet to be tried by the Municipal Court in
Lhasa.
Indeed, it is our belief that the recent death sentences could mark the onset of
an avalanche of highly doubtful court rulings in Tibet, which could lead to a
worrying number of executions in that tense and troubled region.
RESPECT
If China is to gain an international position of respect commensurate with its
position in the world economy, as well as to benefit from its rise to
pre-eminence among the world economic powers, then it is vital that Chinaˇ¦s
representatives in Tibet acknowledge the need for due legal process for all of
its citizens, including its ethnic minorities.
Tied to that sense of due process of law is a call for the Chinese leadership to
allow representatives of the international community to have access to Tibet and
its adjoining provinces.
For these provinces have now been, for the most part, cut off from international
observation ever since the protests that wracked Tibet last spring.
TRANSPARENT
Only by making its rule in Tibet more transparent for the rest of the world can
the government of the Peopleˇ¦s Republic of China dispel the dark shadows of
suspicion that now hang over Tibet.
Only by allowing an international presence to report, dispassionately and
truthfully, on what is happening in Tibet, will Chinaˇ¦s government dispel the
idea that its continued rule there means that even more severe human rights
abuses will be inflicted on members of Chinaˇ¦s ethnic minorities.
Vaclav Havel is a former president of
the Czech Republic; Prince Hassan Bin Talal is president of the Arab Thought
Forum; Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace prize laureate, is Archbishop Emeritus of
Cape Town; Vartan Gregorian is a former president of Brown University and
president of the Carnegie Council; and Yohei Sasakawa is a Japanese
philanthropist.
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