China Jails Tibetan Language Activist

A Tibetan shopkeeper who campaigned to preserve his region's ancestral language was jailed for five years by a mainland court on Tuesday for inciting separatism, in a case Amnesty International denounced as "beyond absurd".

Tashi Wangchuk was featured in a New York Times documentary that followed him on a trip to Beijing, where he attempted to get state media and courts to address what he describes as the diminishing use of the Tibetan language.

A court in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northwestern province of Qinghai sentenced him on Tuesday morning, according to his lawyer.

Tashi has been detained since January 2016, not long after the Times published its story and documentary video about his activism. He had pleaded not guilty at his trial and plans to appeal.

In the video, Tashi complained of a "systematic slaughter of our culture", and also said he wants to use mainland law to build his case and praised President Xi Jinping.

Amnesty International called his sentence a gross injustice.

"He is being cruelly punished for peacefully drawing attention to the systematic erosion of Tibetan culture. To brand peaceful activism for Tibetan language as 'inciting separatism' is beyond absurd," said Joshua Rosenzweig, its East Asia research director.

"The documentary underscores that Tashi Wangchuk was merely trying to express his opinions about education policy through entirely legitimate means."

The video ends with Tashi discussing the many Tibetans who have self-immolated in protest at Beijing's policies over the years, while adding what he would do if he is "locked up or they force me to say things against my will".

"I will choose suicide," he said. (AFP)