Tibetan writers arrested

Tuesday, September 07, 2010

AFP
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BEIJING - TWO Tibetan journalists have been arrested in north-western China after writing about a government crackdown on 2008 ethnic unrest in Tibet, a press freedom group said on Tuesday.

The writers, identified as Buddha and Kalsang Jinpa, were taken into police custody in Qinghai province in June and July respectively, and were accused of 'separatism,' the Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in a statement.

It said the arrests bring the number of Tibetan journalists and writers jailed in China to 15, 'almost half the number of journalists detained in China' for their writings.

At least another 50 Tibetans are in custody for sending information abroad, the group said, without elaborating.

'There has been no let-up in these arrests since March 2008 and their effect is to drastically curtail the ability of Tibetan intellectuals to make their voices heard,' the group said, while demanding the pair's release.

The India-based Tibet Post International said the two writers were arrested after publishing their articles outside China. Police in Xining, the capital of Qinghai province, denied any knowledge of the matter when contacted by AFP.