20 June 2008
Prominent Tibetans arrested in Kathmandu
(PTI; Reuters; TibetInfoNet) Nepalese authorities arrested three Tibetans and charged them with anti-China activities. Police said the three Tibetans - Kelsang Chung, director of the Tibetan Refugee Reception Centre in Kathmandu; Ngawang Sangmo and Tashi Dolma, senior officials of the regional Tibetan Women's Association - were arrested from their homes in dawn raids. Their arrests came amid ongoing daily street protests, and over 600 protesters were detained on 19 June for trying to storm a visa office of the Chinese Embassy. A police spokesman said that the three Tibetans were detained under Nepal's Public Security Act and could be held in custody for 90 days. Later, a police superintendent announced that most of the demonstrators would be released, but not the three: "They will be put into jail for a longer period on charges of provoking anti-China demonstrations", he said. The Tibetan Women’s Association indeed participated in the protests thus justifying the arrests in the eyes of the Nepali authorities, but Kelsang Chung and the Tibetan Reception Centre, a body affiliated to the UNHCR, have a policy of refraining from any political activities and keep a low-key profile in order to be able to concentrate on receiving recent arrivals from Tibet. The Chinese embassy is believed to have handed over to the Nepalese authorities a list of eleven Tibetans allegedly involved in the recent embassy protests.