Human Rights in China, a New York based human rights...

Human Rights in China, a New York based human rights group, said that the case in which a Tibetan monk and a follower, Tenzin Delek and Lobsang Dhondup, had been sentenced to death over a bombing should be heard again. The group said its inquiries with officials in Ganzi indicated the trial had not been open, and that the December 2 judgement had been preceded by a meeting of officials that decided on a "unified public position" around the case. The group also said the circumstances raised the possibility that Tenzin Delek had been framed. The lama had fled to India in the 1980s to study with the Dalai Lama's exile community, and since his return had not been ecognised by Chinese authorities as a religious leader. "This trial is a classic example of China's `black box' system, in which it's impossible to monitor whether the human rights of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche and the others have been adequately protected," the group's president, Liu Qing said. "It's unconscionable to impose a death sentence under such circumstances."