China jails 30 for Tibetan riots

By Ben Blanchard

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court jailed 30 people for terms ranging from three years to life on Tuesday for their roles in Tibet's deadly riots, which triggered anti-China protests across the globe ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

China has blamed Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his government-in-exile for plotting the riots, in which at least 18 "innocent civilians", according to Beijing, were killed by Tibetan mobs in the regional capital, Lhasa, last month.

Lhasa Intermediate People's Court announced the verdicts at an "open trial" that lasted all day and was attended by more than 200 people, including Buddhist monks, medical workers and "masses from all walks of life", state media said.

It was the first batch of sentences announced since the March 14 violence and a Chinese crackdown that led to protests and disruption of the global Olympic torch relay, most notably in London, Paris and San Francisco.

Crowds of Chinese waved red national flags and cheered the Olympic torch in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday, the last international leg of its harried journey around the world.

MONK GETS LIFE SENTENCE

Seven schools, five hospitals and 120 homes were set ablaze and 908 shops were looted in the violence, the state news agency Xinhua said. Total damage was more than 244 million yuan ($35 million).

Three people were sentenced to life -- 30 year-old businessman Cering, a monk named Basang and Soi'nam Cering, a driver with a Lhasa real estate company who Xinhua had previously identified as Soi'nam Norbu, the court was quoted as saying.