Tibetan author fears execution by Chinese authorities for 'spillitism' writings - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

A Tibetan writer and intellectual has expressed fear about being executed by authorities in China for his anti-Beijing write-ups. Tragyal, a 47-year-old Tibetan who writes under the name Shogdung, had been an employee at a state-run publisher. He faces the charge of "splittism," one of the gravest crimes under Chinese law. His book "The Line Between Sky and Earth", published in March this year, is being used as evidence against him in court. The book is a poetic, painstakingly written indictment of Chinese rule and a call for a "peaceful revolution" against what Tragyal describes as Beijing 's heavy-handed governing style. It turns out that the public security bureau in the western province of Qinghai needed a full month to translate his Tibetan prose into Chinese. Officers have searched his home, carted away computers, handwritten notes and copies of the offending book, Tragyal stood by silently as all this was being done. "He was perfectly serene in front of the policemen, and this somehow calmed my fears," his wife wrote in an e-mail. If recent history is any guide, the trial will be brief and the penalty severe, and Tragyal knows it. "I am naturally terrified at the thought that once this essay has been made public, I will eventually have to endure the hot hells and cold hells on earth," he writes. "I may 'lose my head because of my mouth,' but this is the path I have chosen, so the responsibility is mine," the New York Times quoted him, as saying.