Tibetan 'jailed' for riot reports

2 July 2011 Last updated at 15:19 GMT Riots in 2008 prompted articles in banned magazine Eastern Snow Mountain A Tibetan writer, Tashi Rabten, is reported to have been sentenced to four years in jail in south-west China.

The International Campaign for Tibet, a US-based campaign group, says he was convicted of editing a banned magazine.

Eastern Snow Mountain grew out of literary responses to the anti-China disturbances in 2008, the anniversary of a failed uprising against Beijing.

China blamed the unrest on followers of the Dalai Lama, who it said were seeking to separate Tibet from China.

The case against Tashi Rabten was reportedly heard at Aba Intermediate People's Court in Sichuan province, where the population is mainly ethnic Tibetan, according to a statement from the International Campaign for Tibet.

Aba is known as Ngaba by Tibetans. It has become a focus of confrontation between protesting Tibetans and Chinese security forces.

Three other Tibetans, who worked for the banned journal, were jailed last year on charges of inciting separatism - an accusation that the ruling Communist Party typically levels at Tibetans campaigning for self-determination for their homeland.

Continue reading the main story China says Tibet was always part of its territory Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before 20th CenturyIn 1950, China launched a military assault Opposition to Chinese rule led to a bloody uprising in 1959 Tibet spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, fled to India Dalai Lama now advocates a "middle way" with Beijing, seeking autonomy but not independence The 2008 unrest was the worst in the mountainous region in 20 years - China responded with a massive military crackdown and closed the region to foreigners.

Beijing said at least 18 people, mostly Han Chinese, were killed, but Tibetan rights groups put the figure at about 40.

Many Tibetans say Beijing is attempting to dilute their minority culture, by encouraging huge numbers of majority Han Chinese to resettle there.

Beijing says it is bringing development and improving the standard of living in the area.

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India actress jailed over killing

1 July 2011 Last updated at 09:58 GMT An Indian court has sentenced an actress and her naval officer boyfriend in connection with the killing of TV executive Neeraj Grover in 2008.

Maria Susairaj was sentenced to three years in jail for destroying evidence. Emile Jerome got 10 years for "culpable homicide not amounting to murder".

Both had been charged with murder. But a judge in the Mumbai (Bombay) court ruled the killing was not planned.

Mr Grover was stabbed and his body hacked to pieces, the court heard.

Both defendants had been charged with murder, criminal conspiracy, common intent and causing disappearance of evidence.

Susairaj, a model who has had some small television parts, confessed to her role in covering up the killing. But she said that Jerome had been responsible for Mr Grover's death.

Her lawyers claimed that she was not party to the killing and that there had been no conspiracy. Her lawyer is quoted saying she was "a victim of circumstance".

According to the prosecution, Jerome, to whom Susairaj was engaged to be married, had a fight with Mr Grover when he found him at the actress's home.

The naval officer stabbed the producer to death, the court heard. Prosecutors said the couple then hacked Mr Grover's body to pieces and disposed of it in a nearby forest.

The judge held that Jerome had acted on the spur of the moment and that it had not been a pre-meditated killing, so he passed the lesser verdict of "culpable homicide".

"When he [Jerome] entered the room he was calm. This showed he did not have intention [to murder]. Obviously for a fiance, in a situation where he finds a stranger with his partner, would upset a prudent man and he would lose control," sessions court judge NW Chandwani is quoted as saying by the CNN-IBN news channel.

Correspondents expect Susairaj to be freed soon, as she has already been in jail for three years. Jerome faces seven more years in prison.

Both defendants have been ordered to pay compensation to the family of Neeraj Grover. Mr Grover's family have said they are unhappy with the verdict, saying they have not received justice.

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Jailed Iran hunger striker 'dies'

12 June 2011 Last updated at 11:14 GMT Mr Saber had already served several jail terms since 2000 A jailed Iranian journalist, Hoda Saber, has died after going on hunger strike, an opposition website says.

Kaleme.com said he died of a heart attack after being transferred from Tehran's Evin prison to a hospital.

Mr Saber, in his 50s, went on hunger strike on 2 June to protest about the death of Haleh Sahabi at the funeral of her activist father, Ezatollah Sahabi.

Mr Saber was jailed after the disputed 2009 elections that saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected.

He had also served several prison terms since 2000.

'Cardiac complication'

"Security forces on Friday transferred him from Evin prison to Modarres hospital due to cardiac complication induced by his hunger strike," Kaleme.com said.

"But the damage of the cardiac complication... was too severe."

Haleh Sahabi, 55, herself an opposition activist, died on 1 June during a confrontation with security forces at her father's funeral.

There are reports she was hit by security forces and died of a heart attack.

Funerals involving other opposition figures have also been broken up.

She had been allowed out of prison to attend her father's funeral. Ezatollah Sahabi was a former MP and prominent dissident.

Iranian officials denied any clashes with security had taken place at his funeral.

Ezatollah Sahabi was a member of the interim government installed after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, which resigned in protest over the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran.

He died of stroke in a Tehran hospital on 30 May at the age of 81.

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Somali pirates jailed in S Korea

27 May 2011 Last updated at 11:47 GMT This has been a high-profile case for South Korea - believed to be the first piracy trial held in the country A Somali pirate has been jailed for life by a South Korean court, after being convicted of the attempted murder of the captain of a hijacked ship.

Mahomed Araye was one of several Somalis seized in January when South Korean special forces stormed a cargo ship hijacked in the Arabian Sea.

Another man was sentenced to 15 years; two others received 13-year terms.

The trial marks the first attempt by South Korea - a major seafaring nation - to punish foreign pirates.

The court in the port city of Busan ruled that only Araye had been involved in the shooting of Capt Seok Hae-Kyun, who is still recovering in hospital.

Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Araye, and life imprisonment for his accomplices, saying the pirates had used the captive crew as human shields during the raid by South Korean forces.

Eight pirates were killed and five were arrested during the mission to recapture the South Korean-owned Samho Jewelry on 15 January, six days after it was seized.

Defence lawyers argued the ballistic evidence linking Araye to the shooting of the captain was thin, and that no one saw him fire.

In the course of the trial, prosecutors also said that a British man working in the insurance industry contacted the Samho shipping company shortly after the kidnapping, allegedly to broker a possible deal with the hijackers.

A fifth suspect is being tried separately, and will be sentenced next week.

The Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, is one of the world's busiest shipping routes and has become a hotspot for pirate attacks.

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