Two teenagers were convicted of setting fire to a Beijing cyber cafe and sentenced to life in prison by the Beijing No.1 Intermediate Court Friday. They were also deprived of political rights for life.

The boys, identified by the surnames Liu and Song, along with a girl surnamed Zhang and a boy Zhang, 13, used gasoline to set the Lanjisu Internet Cafe ablaze to take revenge on staff who had refused to let them use computers there in June this year. Twenty-five were killed in the blaze.

The girl, Zhang, received a 12-year prison term. The boy, Zhang, was spared from incarceration due to his age and sent to the Beijing Public Security Bureau for special education.

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2002)