China sentences three Uighurs to death for terrorism

Nov 11, 2007, 11:13 GMT

Beijing - A court in China's Central Asian region of Xinjiang has sentenced three men to death for terrorism and separatism and handed suspended death sentences or life imprisonment to three others, state media said on Sunday.

The court in Xinjiang's Kashgar city convicted the six, who appeared from their names to be from the Uighur minority, on charges linked to 'separating the nation, organising and leading a terrorist group' and illegal production of explosives, the semi-official China News Service reported.

From August 2005 to January this year, they set up a terrorist cell and training facilities for more than 10 people to conduct 'armed revolt' with help from terrorist groups in unspecified foreign nations, the agency said.

The group caused the death of one police officer and injury to one other, it said without giving details.

They were found in illegal possession of 16 kilograms of explosives, 67 grenades and two 'suicide bombs', the agency said.

The court on Friday sentenced three of the group to death and gave suspended death sentences for two more of the group, and life imprisonment for the sixth man.

Suspended death sentences are normally commuted to life imprisonment after two years.

The Chinese government said terrorists were responsible for 200 incidents that killed 162 people in Xinjiang from 1990-2001, but almost no attacks have been reported since then.

In recent years, the ruling Communist Party has intensified its ideological battle with Uighurs who seek an independent state in Xinjiang.

Uighur exiles and human rights groups say the global fight against terrorism following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States has allowed China to claim the moral right to crack down on political and religious dissent in Xinjiang.

In January, Chinese forces claimed they killed 18 suspected terrorists and destroyed a training camp in Xinjiang, but international experts cast doubt on China's account of the incident.

It was not immediately known if the sentences reported on Sunday were linked to the incident in January.

Xinjiang is a vast Muslim-majority region that borders Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan.

More than 60 per cent of its 20 million people are from the Uighur, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Hui, Mongol and other ethnic minorities, according to government statistics.

Some 7.5 million Uighurs, most of whom are Muslims, form the largest minority in Xinjiang.

Millions of ethnically Chinese people have migrated to the region since it came under Communist Party control in 1949.