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DATE

Dear [ __________], MP

I am writing to urge you to take action on behalf of five Tibetans
recently sentenced to death by a court in Lhasa, Tibet: there are
serious concerns that the evidence presented against them was unsound
and that their convictions are therefore unsafe.

Three of the death sentences have subsequently been commuted to life
imprisonment but two of the Tibetans could be executed at any time. I
am urging you therefore to address this issue by writing to Minister
of State Ivan Lewis to call on him to urge the Chinese
authorities to repeal the death sentences immediately.

The two Tibetans at risk of execution are Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak.
They were sentenced to death in April 2009 by the Lhasa Intermediate
People's Court for allegedly taking part in arson attacks on
commercial properties in Lhasa on March 14 2008 which led to the
confirmed deaths of a number of Chinese businesspeople.

Since the Spring 2008 protests, however, Tibet has been largely
sealed off to the world and no independent observers were present at
the trials. The only details to have emerged on these cases are those
supplied by official Chinese media sources. But even official
information raises serious concerns regarding the nature of the
evidence presented against the defendants. According to the official
Chinese news agency, Xinhua (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/
2009-04/08/content_11151158.htm), at least one of the convictions was
based upon a confession.

The use of confessions to secure convictions is deeply concerning. In
November 2008 the UN Committee against Torture (CAT) stated its deep
concern of the routine and widespread use of torture, especially
to extract confessions or information to be used in criminal
proceedings and continued reliance on confessions as a common
form of evidence for prosecution in China and Tibet. (http://
www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cat/docs/CAT.C.CHN.CO.4.pdf)

Other legal safeguards appear to have been ignored by the Chinese
authorities. According to a press release issued by the Tibetan
government-in-exile on 22 May 2009, the family members of Lobsang Gyaltsen and
Loyak, and those of two other Tibetans given suspended death
sentences on 8 April, were not informed that the trials were taking
place. It was also stated that family members of the four sentenced
to death on 8 April were denied the right to find legal
representation for the defendants. Under Chinese criminal procedure
law the relevant public security department is obliged to notify
within 24 hours the relative of the detainee or his (or her) employer
about the reasons of the detention or arrest and the locality of the
confinement. Similarly, prisons are obliged to guarantee the
rights of lawyers to meet their clients.

Due to the lack of an independent judiciary in China it is highly
unlikely that Lobsang Gyaltsen and Loyak would have received a fair
trial. All levels of courts in China are highly politicised as they
are guided by the Political-Legal Committee of the Communist party of
China.

I urge you to address these serious concerns by writing to Minister
of State, Ivan Lewis, urging him to call on the Chinese
authorities to revoke the death sentences immediately.

Yours sincerely,