Chinese Police Detain Two Tibetans in Self-Immolation Protests BEIJING - Chinese police officials have detained a Tibetan monk and his nephew and accused them of playing a role in a series of self-immolations, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. The move appeared to be part of a campaign to prosecute Tibetans who are accused of aiding others who set fire to themselves in protest of Chinese rule. The police said the monk who was detained - Lorang Konchok, 40, of the Kirti Monastery in Sichuan Province - was connected with eight self-immolations, Xinhua reported Sunday. The two men were apparently detained in August; it was unclear why Xinhua did not report on them until now. The Kirti Monastery, in the town of Ngaba, has been central to the wave of self-immolations that began in Tibetan areas in February 2009, when a young monk from Kirti named Tapey set himself on fire in the center of Ngaba. Nearly 100 people in Tibetan regions of China have set themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule, including three over the weekend, according to Tibetan exile groups. The Xinhua report said that Mr. Lorang Konchock and his nephew, Lorang Tsering, 31, were suspected by the police of passing on information about the identities and backgrounds of Tibetans who have self-immolated to exiles in India, where a Tibetan government-in-exile is based and where the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tibetans, lives. Some of the information and photos were sent using a cellphone, the report said, Xinhua said Mr. Lorang Konchock became involved after being contacted by a "Tibetan independence organization" tied to the Dalai Lama after Tapey's self-immolation in 2009. Referring to the monk and his nephew, the Xinhua report said that "the two men had persuaded several people to attempt self-immolation, who abandoned the idea after their families, local government officials and police officers intervened." The detention of the two men appeared to be part of a concentrated effort to rein in the self-immolations, which have gathered pace in recent months; in November they occurred nearly every day. An editorial published Dec. 3 in a newspaper in a Tibetan area of Gansu Province said China's supreme court, prosecution agency and Ministry of Public Security had issued "guidelines" that said "the act of self-immolation by Tibetans is a crime." The guidelines said that assisting or encouraging self-immolations was considered intentional homicide, and that those who committed self-immolation were also criminals and punishable by law if they "have caused severe damage," according to the newspaper. No information about the guidelines was posted on the Web sites of the three government bodies that the newspaper said had issued them. It is unclear how widely they are being applied across China, or whether the two men detained in Ngaba will be prosecuted based on the guidelines. The appearance of the guidelines may have affected the timing of the Xinjua report about the detentions. Chinese authorities have taken legal action before against Tibetans accused of being involved in self-immolations, though it has been rare. Notably, after a monk at Kirti named Phuntsog set himself on fire in March 2011, a court sentenced three other monks to long prison sentences. Two were found guilty of involvement in Phuntsog's self-immolation and one, an uncle of Phuntsog's, for refusing to turn his body over to the police at the time. Chinese officials have long blamed any unrest in Tibetan areas of China on what they call the "Dalai clique," and some officials have derided the Dalai Lama as a "jackal in monk's robes." The campaign to vilify him and other Tibetans in exile surged after a widespread Tibetan uprising in 2008, but Chinese officials have so far failed to present any evidence that connects the Dalai Lama directly to rebellions inside China's borders. On Sunday evening, a Tibetan woman, Wangchen Kyi, 17, died after setting herself on fire in Qinghai Province, becoming the 95th Tibetan to self-immolate since 2009, according to the Tibetan service of Voice of America. More than 3,000 Tibetans gathered at the site in Qinghai, according to the report. Two men, both 23, killed themselves on Saturday in separate protests, according to Free Tibet, an advocacy group in London. The men were identified as Pema Dorjee and Kunchoek Phelgay, a monk. Chinese security forces have locked down the parts of the vast Tibetan plateau where self-immolations have become common, making it difficult for foreign journalists to travel there.