Beijing: In the harshest sentences yet, a Chinese court on Wednesday sentenced to death four Tibetans and another to life-term for igniting deadly fires in the worst anti-government riots in Lhasa since 1989.
While the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court sentenced four people to death, it gave a two-year reprieve to two of the convicts.
Another person found guilty of starting the fatal fires in March last year was given life-term, the official Xinhua news agency reported from the Tibetan capital, Lhasa.
The five were tried in three separate arson cases, in which altogether seven civilians were killed and five shops torched in Lhasa.
Another arson case is still under trial, in which five civilians were killed and a shop burnt down.
China has blamed pro-Dalai Lama "rioters" for the death of 21 people. However, the exiled Tibetan government headed by the Dalai Lama has claimed that over 200 Tibetans were killed in China's harsh crackdown.
Beijing claims the protests were part of a plot by the Dalai Lama and his supporters to throw off Chinese rule in Tibet and sabotage the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
In February, Xinhua reported that Chinese authorities had handed down court sentences ranging from three years to life in prison to a total of 76 people over the March riots.
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