06. Oct 2009
Tibetan woman gets 15-year jail term
(Tibet.net) A 54-year-old retired Tibetan doctor named Yeshi Choedon was given a 15-year imprisonment by the Intermediate People's Court in Lhasa on charges of "leaking secrets to the outside world" during protests in March 2008. The court had announced in the verdict passed on 07 November 2008 that Yeshi Choedon's political rights would be also withheld for five years. According to Tibet.net, she is currently doing hard labour in a prison near Lhasa. Yeshi Choedon has reportedly been denied any right to meet her family members since then. An unknown number of Tibetans were also reportedly arrested at the time, during a smoke sacrifice ceremony, during the Saka-dawa festival. Many of those arrested were released, except a man named Soetop, aged 50.