Tibetan nun dies after self-immolation protest, China says

Feb 13, 2012, 8:29 GMT

Beijing - A 19-year-old Tibetan Buddhist nun died en route to hospital following a self-immolation protest in south-western China's Sichuan province, state media said on Monday.

Tenzin Choedron set herself alight Saturday evening in Sichuan's Aba area, Xinhua news agency quoted local officials as saying.

The agency said she was a nun at Aba's Siwa Tibetan Buddhist convent, confirming reports by Tibetan exiles and rights groups.

London-based Free Tibet said she shouted anti-government slogans as she set herself on fire and was quickly surrounded by paramilitary police who took her away and sealed off the area.

Her protest was the 23rd self-immolation reported in Tibetan areas of China in the past two years, most of them in or near Aba.

Another of Sewa's 350 nuns died after she self-immolated in October, rights groups reported.

'Tibetans are taking to the streets in increasing numbers and choosing to set fire to themselves to protest Chinese policies across an ever-widening area,' Stephanie Brigden, the director of Free Tibet, said last week.

Two Tibetan brothers died after they were shot by police in Sichuan's Luhuo county last week, US-based Radio Free Asia reported.

The brothers were hiding in hills after an anti-government protest on January 23, the broadcaster quoted an exiled Tibetan monk in India as saying.

At least six other Tibetans died in clashes with security forces in Luhuo and the nearby Seda area of Sichuan's Ganzi prefecture last month, according to reports by Tibetan exile groups, international rights groups and Radio Free Asia.