A Chinese court on Wednesday handed down death sentences to two people accused of starting deadly fires in last year's anti-government riots in Tibet, state media and a court officer said.
The Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People's Court also gave suspended death sentences to two other people, and another was sentenced to life imprisonment, the official Xinhua News Agency said in a brief dispatch.
The riots broke out following several days of peaceful anti-government protests by Buddhist monks.
Chinese officials say killed 22 people, Tibetan exiles say more than 200 people died in the crackdown. A year later, a tight web of troops and police throughout Tibetan areas appeared to have deterred large-scale unrest.
Tibetan exiles have reported a string of scattered protests and arrests in Tibetan areas of Sichuan, Qinghai and Gansu provinces in recent weeks. Some of the arrests came in connection with a boycott of the annual planting in part of Sichuan province.
Earlier this week, the India-based Tibetan government in exile asked Tibetans in Kardze prefecture to comply with the Chinese government's order to end the boycott.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and
AP.