People sentenced to life for Tibet unrest

SEVENTEEN people have been sentenced to jail terms ranging from three years to life for their role in unrest in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, last month.

A court in Lhasa handed down the verdicts, with the 17 accused of being involved in violence on March 14, the Xinhua news agency said in a brief dispatch.

The 17 were the first to be sentenced over the recent unrest by Tibetans, who have staged rallies in Lhasa and other parts of China in protest against Chinese rule of their homeland.

China has blamed Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and his government-in-exile for plotting the riots, in which at least 18 "innocent civilians", according to Beijing, were killed by Tibetan mobs.