A Sichuan provincial government official said Wednesday in Chengdu?that petitioners who called for the release of a Tibetan monk had been persuaded home and no one was detained.

The official said the petitioners had been to Beijing and Chengdu, the provincial capital, to appeal to the higher authorities. They also incited crowd to lodge complaints with the authorities of Yajiang county of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan.

The monk, Tenzin Deleg, was sentenced to death with a two-year reprieve in December 2002 for plotting five bombings and distributing leaflets that instigated secession by the Intermediate People's Court of the prefecture. His sentence has been commuted to life in prison.

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