A Tibetan woman has been given a suspended death sentence with a two-year reprieve by a Chinese court in Lhasa, China’s state media reported Tuesday, 21 April.

Penkyi, a woman from Sakya County, received a suspended death penalty for starting fires in two downtown clothing shops on 14 March last year, an unnamed spokesman of the Lhasa Municipal Intermediate People’s Court was quoted as saying by the Tibet Daily. She is 21-year-old and comes from Norbu village, Dogra township in Sakya County.

She was convicted for allegedly setting a blaze in Hongyu Trousers on the Qingnian road, which left the shop owner Zuo Rencun dead, the spokesman said.

The court has also handed harsh jail terms to two other Tibetan women for setting fires at Yishon clothing store on the East Beijing Road in Lhasa. The second woman, also named Penkyi, of Nyemo County, was sentenced to life imprisonment and Chime Lhamo, aged 20, was jailed for 10 years, the spokesman said.

The spokesman said the trials had been open and strictly abided by the Criminal Procedure Law of the People’s Republic of China. The defendants were provided with Tibetan language interpreters and their attorneys had expressed their arguments in full.

The report did not say when the sentences were delivered not did it give other details of the defendants and their arguments. All of them were arrested in March 2008.

Although the three women permanently reside in Lhasa, it is difficult to ascertain their professions. But according to sources they are believed to be working as sweepers. Sources said the third woman, Chime Lhamo, is from Sholtoe village, Namling township in Shigatse Namling County.

On 8 April, the court sentenced two Tibetans - Losang Gyaltsen and Loyak - to death. Two other Tibetans, Tenzin Phuntsok and Kangtsuk, were given death sentence with a two-year reprieve, while Dawa Sangpo received life imprisonment.

The Dharamsala-based Tibetan Government-in-Exile, said those sentenced had not received a fair trial and warned of even greater resentment among Tibetans. China insisted the close-door trials had been open and fair according to Chinese law and that the accused were defended by lawyers and provided with Tibetan interpreters.

However, following the March 2008 protests, several lawyers from mainland China who offered to represent Tibetan detainees were reportedly warned by Chinese authorities not to help Tibetans and threatened with the loss of their registration to practice law.