In the very first trail associated with the anti-China riots in Tibet the previous month, a Chinese court on Tuesday, 29 April, sentenced 17 people. The sentences were pronounced by the Intermediate People's Court of Lhasa in an open session and it ranged from three years to life in prison. Though no further details about the court trail was released, China's state broadcaster has reported that 200 people attended the trial.

 

Substantial anti-government protests broke out in Tibet on 14 March, which is being viewed as the most crucial challenge to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region in nearly two decades. While China states that 22 people died in the riots, the Tibetan government in exile states that the actual figure of those who died is many times the stated one. Tibet and the adjoining areas, where protests broke out, have been closed to foreigners since the unrest.