HRW asks for release of Tibetans

BEIJING, March 14 (UPI) -- Human Rights Watch Friday asked India, Nepal and China to release Tibetans detained for trying to observe their 1959 uprising day against Chinese rule.

Human Rights Watch, in a report released in Washington, said the governments should allow the Tibetans to demonstrate peacefully.

Human Rights Watch issued its call after Tibetans in Lhasa, Tibet, and Tibetan refugees in India and Nepal were dispersed and arrested as they tried to observe the anniversary of their failed uprising against Chinese rule.

The rally also was designed to protest China's being the host of the Olympic Games this summer.

"Instead of arresting peaceful protesters, why don't these governments meet with them and attempt to address their grievances?" said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch said in the past 50 years, the Chinese government "has arrested, detained, and tortured countless Tibetans -- including monks, nuns and children -- protesting Chinese rule."

In India, where the Tibetan spiritual head the Dalai Lama lives in exile and leads the Tibetan government in exile, police have detained more than 100 Tibetan refugees as they marched to protest the Olympic Games in Beijing.