Two Tibetans are sentenced to death and two others given suspended death sentences for their role in protests last year amid simmering discontent.

Below is an article published by Reuters :

Two Tibetans have been sentenced to death for their role in riots in Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa last year [2008], China's official Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday [8 April 2009].

They were found guilty of "starting fatal fires" during the riot, the report said, citing a court spokesman. Two others got suspended death sentences and another life imprisonment.

Protests by Buddhist monks against Chinese rule on March 14 last year [2008] led to the deaths of 19 people and sparked waves of protests in Tibetan areas. Tibetan exiles say more than 200 people died in the crackdown.

A year later [2009], a tight web of troops and police throughout Tibetan areas appeared to have deterred large-scale unrest.

A trickle of isolated protests in recent weeks, including a monk who set himself on fire at the Kirti monastery in western Sichuan and a bomb thrown at a government office which caused no casualties, suggested lingering discontent.

Last month [March 2009], Tibet's self-exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lamented that Tibet, which he fled 50 years ago after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, had become a "hell on earth" thanks to repressive rule from Beijing.