China made arbitrary arrests, unfair trials of Tibetans: HRW

There have been thousands of arbitrary arrests and unfair trials of Tibetan activists by the Chinese government during last year's March protests, a rights group said on Tuesday, citing the Communist nations account.

Thousands of arrests and more than 100 trials pushed through the judicial system as China attempted to quell the protests by the supporters of Dalai Lama on March 10 in Lhasa last year, which spread across the Tibetan plateau, the Human Rights Watch said.

It pointed to a judicial system so highly politicised as to preclude any possibility of protesters being judged fairly.

The Watch said it has examined dozens of court reports, statements by leading officials, local judicial statistics, and official Chinese press reports.

"The Chinese government has refused every external request for a real accounting of the detention, arrest and sentencing of those involved with the Tibetan protests," said Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director at HRW.

"Both the arrests and the releases seem to have been arbitrary, and we still know next to nothing about those who are still detained or have been imprisoned," Richardson added.

Against a backdrop of "ever-more" intrusive controls over religious and cultural activities, accelerated state-led economic development, and large-scale compulsory resettlement of farmers and nomads, major Tibetan protest erupted on March 10, the Watch recalled.