Tibetan Arrests

Sir, - Your newspaper (May 29th) reduced to a mere photocaption the horrific story of 50 Tibetan school-children who were arrested…

Sir, - Your newspaper (May 29th) reduced to a mere photocaption the horrific story of 50 Tibetan school-children who were arrested by the Chinese authorities on their way to see their parents and families in Tibet, during the school holidays.

The children are all under the age of 18, below the limit for criminal and political prosecution according to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. They have been accused of "involvement in political activity" and "indulging in dissident activities" because they were sent by their parents to Tibetan schools in Northern India run by the exiled Tibetan government.

As a result, they will certainly not receive a fair trial, and may face long periods of imprisonment. A Tibetan nun, Ngawang Sangdrol, recently received a 21-year sentence for singing independence songs. She has been in prison since the age of 13. - Yours, etc.,

Anthony O'Brien, Tibet Support Group Ireland, Ailesbury Road, Dublin 4.