Published by: World Tibet Network News, Sunday, Jun 2, 1996

By Mure Dickie

BEIJING, May 31 (Reuter) - A Chinese court has sentenced six Tibetans to up to five years in prison for demanding independence for the restive Himalayan region, state media said.

A court in Tibet's second largest city of Xigaze announced the sentences against the six at a recent rally, Tibet television said in a report monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation and seen in Beijing on Friday.

All six had "called for and incited for Tibetan independence," it said, but gave no details of the activities for which they were jailed.

The Tibet Information Network (TIN), a London-based group with close links to activists in the region, said the jailings were China's first admission of a political trial in Tibet for nearly two years.

Police and court officials in Tibet were unavailable to comment.

China has in recent months stepped up its battle against pro-independence activists and has tightened controls on temples and monasteries in the deeply Buddhist region known as "the roof of the world."

Separatists loyal to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama had expanded their campaign to try to end Beijing rule, the official Tibet Daily said.

"This year, the Dalai clique has further intensified its splittist and destructive activities," the newspaper said in its May 23 edition received in Beijing on Friday.

"Full preparations must be made for a long-term struggle," it said.

Chinese media has said the number of bombings in Tibet doubled in 1995 and officials have called for a new crackdown on dissent in the region, which has been governed by Beijing since the People's Liberation Army marched into Lhasa in August 1951.

Operations against separatists must be at the forefront of the region's "Strike Hard" crackdown on serious crime, officials have said.

Chinese President Jiang Zemin this week sent a clear reminder to Tibetans that the Communist Party still held sway alongside the gods, with the unveiling in a major temple of a huge board inscribed with Jiang's calligraphy.

The board, which was given pride of place at the ancient Tashilunpo monastery in Xigaze, reads: "Safeguard the Country and Benefit the People."

Jiang's gift stressed "the need to guide religion to adapt to socialist society," the Xinhua news agency quoted Raidi (eds: correct), chairman of the parliament in the restive region, as saying in a speech to 800 monks at the monastery.

Officials in the region have issued a notice ordering separatists to surrender by June 30 and warning of severe punishment for those who carry out bombings and assassinations.

The clamp down on dissent has been accompanied by arrests and sentencing of ordinary criminals, state media has said.

The Xigaze court that jailed the pro-independence activists also handed down death sentences to eight people convicted of murder and theft, Tibet television said. It gave no details of their crimes.