22. May 2006
Amnesty says arbitrary arrests and unfair trials continue in Tibet
(ICT; Guardian) Amnesty International (AI) has said that the Chinese authorities continued to severely restrict the freedom of religion, expression and association of the Tibetan people during 2005. In its report on the state of human rights in the world, released on 23 May 2006, AI said arbitrary arrests and unfair trials of Tibetans continued and referred to the case of a group of monks from Amdo who were sentenced for writing what were dubbed politically sensitive materials. The report said that while China continued a limited dialogue with selected members of the international community on human rights issues, human rights defenders at home continued to be arbitrarily detained and some were sentenced to prison terms. According to the report: "Freedom of religion, expression and association continued to be severely restricted and arbitrary arrests and unfair trials continued. Some prisoners of conscience were released at the end of their sentences, but dozens of others, including Buddhist monks and nuns, remained behind bars where they were at risk of torture or ill-treatment".