Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – A Tibetan teacher languishing in jail for months on espionage charges has been able to smuggle a letter out of prison appealing to the United Nations for help.

Dolma Kyab, a history teacher, was arrested in March of last year and sentenced on September 6 to 10 years for "endangering state security". He is currently serving his term in Qushui prison (Tibet), the International Campaign for Tibet reported on Tuesday.

Dolma was accused of spying or leaking state secrets after he left in 2003 to study English and Hindi in the Indian town of Dharamsala, where Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, lives in exile.

In his appeal to the UN, he said that the charges against him are due his unpublished book, The Restless Himalayas. "They think that what I wrote about nature and geography was also connected to Tibetan independence . . . this is the main reason of my conviction," Dolma wrote from his prison, south-west of Lhasa. "But, according to Chinese law, the book alone would not justify such a sentence. So they announced that I am guilty of the crime of espionage." Beijing had no immediate comment.

The Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy said it is likely that in some of his writings Dolma Kyab provides information on sensitive topics such as the location and number of military camps in Tibet.

Seven leading Chinese and Tibetan writers have posted a letter on the internet calling for his release.

Born in Qinghai, the 29-year-old man studied history and geography at the Qinghai Normal University doing postgraduate studies at prestigious Beijing University

Tuesday marked the two-year countdown to the opening of the Beijing Olympics and the London-based Free Tibet Campaign urged the International Olympic Committee to demand that the Chinese government free all of the country's political prisoners. (PB)