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Jail sentences for Chinese pop star, Tibetan singer

By Saibal Dasgupta | TNN

Tibetan singer Tashi Dhondup in an undated file photo. A Chinese court has sentenced Tashi to one year and seven months in jail for producing a music album with “subversive songs”.File photo/Photographer unknown

Rock star Zang Tianshuo, a household name in China, has been send to six years in jail for involvement in a violent fight that resulted in one death and injuries to three people in 2003. His sentence was upheld by the Beijing Higher People’s Court on Friday.

Zang was voted the most popular mainland singer/songwriter at the 9th Chinese Music Awards in 2003. He has written and sung some of the most popular film songs including one from the Chinese movie, “Friends”.

The Higher Court rejected the appeal by the singer who challenged the verdict of the Beijing Municipal No 2 Intermediate People’s Court in November. The Higher court heard that the fight was connected to a business dispute Zang, 45, had with his partner Sun Baohe over ownership of a disco bar in Langfang city near Beijing.

Two gangs belonging to Zang and Sun clashed at the Langang railway station resulting in the death of one person and injuries to three others.

The verdict comes soon after another court in Sogpo Mongol of Malho Tibet Autonomous Prefecture sentenced a Tibetan singer, Tashi Dhondup, to one year and seven months in jail for producing a music album with “subversive songs”.

The album Torture without Trace was banned in November last year. Tibetan activists said the album has 13 songs expressing nostalgia for the Dalai Lama and discussing the government crackdown in Lhasa in March 2008.

Tashi has been in detention since his arrest at a restaurant on 3 December last year. The arrest warrant was issued by authorities in the central Henan province, where Tashi is a member of the Henan Mongolian Autonomous Region Arts Troupe.

Tashi caused a stir in 2008 with the release of an album — The year of 1959 when the Dalai Lama left for India. He was arrested in September that year for producing music with ‘counter-revolutionary content’, according to the activist organisation, International Campaign for Tibet.

Copyright © 2010 Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.

Published in The Times of India