BEIJING — A photo that seems to show Chinese paramilitary forces carrying monks' robes provides conclusive evidence, those spreading it through e-mail claim, that the Chinese staged Tibet riots last month to justify a government crackdown.
But the photo, widely distributed via the Internet, appears likely to be a 7-year-old image taken during a film shoot.
"In this politically charged environment, people throw any kind of thing out there without checking," said Xiao Qiang, director of the China Internet Project at UC Berkeley. "It's just part of the crazy Internet world."
Violence broke out in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa and surrounding areas March 14-16, days after the start of massive demonstrations marking the anniversary of a Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule. Chinese officials say 22 people died in the riots; representatives of Tibetan exile groups say several times that number were killed.
A Chinese court Tuesday sentenced 30 people, including six Buddhist monks, to jail terms ranging from three years to life for their participation in the protests, the Associated Press reported.
Also Tuesday, the official New China News Agency reported that a policeman was shot to death Monday while attempting to capture an alleged riot leader in an ethnic Tibetan area of Qinghai, a province in the northwest.
But the Internet picture supposedly featuring the Chinese paramilitary troops and the robes did not pass the smell test, as it seemed vaguely familiar, said Ehron Asher of Denver, a blogger, musician and artist. He has made it his mission on his blog and in Internet chat rooms to persuade people not to pass it along.
"Yes, the Chinese government should respect human rights," Asher said. "But the Tibetan cause should not come at the cost of our own honesty." The photo started making the rounds within days of the March 14 outbreak of violence.
Iris Ho, who works for a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, said she got it from a friend who had received it from a Tibetan.
"I was absolutely shocked," she said. "The picture confirmed the stories we've read about Chinese police dressing up as monks to incite the protesting crowd."
At some point the photo was attached to an article claiming that British intelligence agency spy photos "confirmed" that Chinese agents instigated the riots.
The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan exiled spiritual leader, echoed the charge in late March in New Delhi. "A few hundred soldiers have been dressed like monks," he said, according to local newspapers.
