London: Britain on Wednesday voiced "serious concerns" about human rights in China over the sentencing of leading dissidents, two weeks after Beijing's execution of a mentally ill Briton chilled relations.
A Foreign Office statement referred to Dhondup Wangchen, a Tibetan filmmaker jailed for six years for subversion according to his family, and leading Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, who was sentenced to 11 years on the same charge.
"The verdict (on Wangchen), like that of prominent human rights defender Liu Xiaobo, raises serious concerns about the right to freedom of expression in China," said Foreign Office Minister Ivan Lewis in the statement.
"I urge the Chinese government to meet its international human rights obligations and respect constitutional guarantees on freedom of expression.”
"International fair trial standards were not met in these cases," he said.
Lewis also voiced concerns over the case of Phurbu Tsering Rinpoche, a Tibetan Buddhist lama jailed last month for more than eight years for illegal possession of ammunition and embezzlement.
In December, Britain called in China's Ambassador to London to vent its fury at the "unacceptable" execution of Akmal Shaikh for drugs smuggling.
Shaikh's family said he suffered from bipolar disorder but China voiced its dissatisfaction about British representations in the case and called on the British "not to create new obstacles for China-Britain relations."
The affair strained relations between the two countries, which have close trade and economic ties.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, January 14, 2010, 09:30