BEIJING - A TIBETAN monk who helped make a film about alleged Chinese repression in his homeland has been freed after seven months in jail but says he was tortured while in custody, the film-makers said.

Mr Jigme Gyatso, also known as Mrr Golog Jigme, was arrested in March shortly after completion of the film 'Leaving Fear Behind'.

'The interrogators beat him continuously and hanged him by his feet from the ceiling for hours and kept him tied for days on the interrogation chair,' said a statement by the group Filming for Tibet, which produced the film.

'During the interrogations he fainted several times due to the beatings.'

The monk, 39, was 'temporarily released' from prison on Wednesday and is now back at his home monastery of Labrang in the northwest province of Gansu.

Mr Jigme Gyatso was arrested along with film-maker Dhondup Wangchen, whose whereabouts remain unknown, the group said.

'It is not clear, according to information from Tibet, if all charges against Mr Jigme Gyatso have been dismissed. He was told by the authorities that he will stay under observance and his probation will last one year,' it said.

It said a large crowd of fellow monks and other Tibetans gave him an emotional welcome at the monastery on his return.

The film features interviews with ordinary Tibetans about China, the Olympics and the Dalai Lama.

Huge anti-Chinese protests engulfed the Tibetan plateau in March, driven by anger over what is seen there as decades of systematic political, cultural and religious oppression in the remote and devoutly Buddhist Himalayan region.

The Tibetan government-in-exile says more than 200 Tibetans were killed and about 1,000 hurt in a resulting Chinese crackdown.

Beijing insists that only one Tibetan was killed, and has in turn accused the 'rioters' of killing 21 people.

China has ruled Tibet since 1951, a year after sending troops in to 'liberate' the region. -- AFP